Researchers work out how to control 2D semiconductor growth for future chips

What happened

A team including researchers at KAIST and South Korean startup TDS Innovation published a paper, "Spatially deterministic nucleation of 2D semiconductors by etching flux," in Nature on October 7, demonstrating a way to control where 2D semiconductor crystals begin growing: the etching-flux-mediated single-centred nucleation (EF-SCN) process uses oxygen released from an oxide barrier to create a lateral etching flux that suppresses nucleation everywhere within each patterned growth region except at its geometric center. FETs built with the process reported higher charge-carrier mobility than previously reported for selectively grown MoS₂ transistors; in a separate test across a two-centimeter substrate, the process produced single crystals at 397 of 400 patterned sites, a yield of 99.3 percent, which is not yet a demonstration of commercial chip production. Paper co-author Kibum Kang is co-CEO of TDS Innovation, which develops equipment and materials for 2D semiconductor devices. TDS's Jony Jung said the firm is aiming to enable commercial use of 2D semiconductors around 2030, and that accelerating demand from AI, including physical AI and robotics, could help bring adoption forward, although production timing will depend on further validation; the paper does not say when 2D semiconductors made this way will appear in production chips.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: The Register · 10/11/2026 · View original source