Area-Selective Deposition of WS2 via Sacrificial ZnS Conversion at Low Temperatures
6 affiliations
- 1Fraunhofer IMS
- 2Inorganic Materials Chemistry
- 3Ruhr University Bochum
- 4Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research
- 5Chair of Materials Chemistry
- 6Dresden University of Technology
Abstract
2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) offer a promising path forward as standard silicon technology approaches its physical scaling limits. However, integrating TMDCs into semiconductor manufacturing requires precise, back-end-of-line (BEOL)-compatible deposition methods. Area-selective deposition (ASD) enables direct bottom-up patterning, yet achieving surface-selective growth of tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ) under low thermal budgets remains a significant challenge. Here, we demonstrate a thermally driven ASD route for ultra-thin WS 2 films at 400°C, using tungsten(VI) sulfide tetrachloride (WSCl 4 ) and H 2 S as precursors and leveraging the unique reactivity of the halogenated, sulfur-containing metal precursor to drive selective ligand exchange and conversion. This approach uses a sacrificial, ultra-thin ZnS template layer to guide spatial selectivity. The process selectively converts pre-deposited ZnS into high-quality WS 2 at 400°C while completely suppressing growth on adjacent dielectrics. Applied to 200 mm undoped silicate glass (USG) / Si(100) wafers, this precursor combination yields pure, smooth, ultra-thin (< 10 nm) crystalline WS 2 films with predominantly horizontally oriented layers. The surface conversion mechanism shows remarkable chemical contrast, with high selectivity (S > 0.994) over 1200 deposition cycles, with USG as a non-growth area (NGA). Electrical measurements on tungsten-contacted transmission-line structures show functional behavior, yielding a layer resistivity of 2.9 × 10 7 µΩ·cm and a specific contact resistivity of 5.4×10 -3 Ω·cm 2 for ~7.5 nm WS 2 films. By leveraging sacrificial template conversion to enable highly selective, low-temperature thermal ASD of WS 2 , this work provides a scalable, chemistry-driven, direct, bottom-up integration of 2D materials into future advanced semiconductor device architectures.
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BibTeX
@misc{boysen2026areaselective,
title = {{Area-Selective Deposition of WS2 via Sacrificial ZnS Conversion at Low Temperatures}},
author = {Nils Boysen and Akhil Unnikrishnan Nair and Marco Bürger and Leon Doman and Abdallah Alghazali and Katherine Guzey and Noah Brechmann and Ivan Kaban and Thomas Gemming and Volker Hoffmann and Harish Parala and Anjana Devi},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15008943/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008943/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Area-Selective Deposition of WS2 via Sacrificial ZnS Conversion at Low Temperatures
AU - Nils Boysen
AU - Akhil Unnikrishnan Nair
AU - Marco Bürger
AU - Leon Doman
AU - Abdallah Alghazali
AU - Katherine Guzey
AU - Noah Brechmann
AU - Ivan Kaban
AU - Thomas Gemming
AU - Volker Hoffmann
AU - Harish Parala
AU - Anjana Devi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/16
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15008943/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008943/v1
AB - 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) offer a promising path forward as standard silicon technology approaches its physical scaling limits. However, integrating TMDCs into semiconductor manufacturing requires precise, back-end-of-line (BEOL)-compatible deposition methods. Area-selective deposition (ASD) enables direct bottom-up patterning, yet achieving surface-selective growth of tungsten disulfide (WS 2 ) under low thermal budgets remains a significant challenge. Here, we demonstrate a thermally driven ASD route for ultra-thin WS 2 films at 400°C, using tungsten(VI) sulfide tetrachloride (WSCl 4 ) and H 2 S as precursors and leveraging the unique reactivity of the halogenated, sulfur-containing metal precursor to drive selective ligand exchange and conversion. This approach uses a sacrificial, ultra-thin ZnS template layer to guide spatial selectivity. The process selectively converts pre-deposited ZnS into high-quality WS 2 at 400°C while completely suppressing growth on adjacent dielectrics. Applied to 200 mm undoped silicate glass (USG) / Si(100) wafers, this precursor combination yields pure, smooth, ultra-thin (< 10 nm) crystalline WS 2 films with predominantly horizontally oriented layers. The surface conversion mechanism shows remarkable chemical contrast, with high selectivity (S > 0.994) over 1200 deposition cycles, with USG as a non-growth area (NGA). Electrical measurements on tungsten-contacted transmission-line structures show functional behavior, yielding a layer resistivity of 2.9 × 10 7 µΩ·cm and a specific contact resistivity of 5.4×10 -3 Ω·cm 2 for ~7.5 nm WS 2 films. By leveraging sacrificial template conversion to enable highly selective, low-temperature thermal ASD of WS 2 , this work provides a scalable, chemistry-driven, direct, bottom-up integration of 2D materials into future advanced semiconductor device architectures.
ER -