Suppression of Sulfur Desorption of High-Temperature Sputtered MoS2 Film by Applying DC Bias

Abstract

In this study, sputtering deposition has been used to fabricate molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). The problem with sputtering deposition of MoS2 is desorption of S atoms from the film when the substrate is brought to high temperature in order to obtain high crystalline quality thin film. In this study, application of positive DC bias was employed to prevent S desorption even in high temperature process. It was revealed that when DC bias of +60 V is applied with respect to the substrate, with Argon partial pressure set to 0.09 Pa and RF power set to 225 W, films with S/Mo = 2.0 can be obtained even at the deposition temperature of 600°C. With S desorption suppressed by applying DC bias, sputtering deposition makes a favorable fabrication method for MoS2 and possibly other layered materials.