  Developing novel techniques for depositing transition metal dichalcogenides
is crucial for the industrial adoption of 2D materials in optoelectronics. In
this work, the lateral growth of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) over an insulating
surface is demonstrated using electrochemical deposition. By fabricating a new
type of microelectrodes, MoS2 2D films grown from TiN electrodes across
opposite sides have been connected over an insulating substrate, hence, forming
a lateral device structure through only one lithography and deposition step.
Using a variety of characterization techniques, the growth rate of MoS2 has
been shown to be highly anisotropic with lateral to vertical growth ratios
exceeding 20-fold. Electronic and photo-response measurements on the device
structures demonstrate that the electrodeposited MoS2 layers behave like
semiconductors, confirming their potential for photodetection applications.
This lateral growth technique paves the way towards room temperature, scalable
and site-selective production of various transition metal dichalcogenides and
their lateral heterostructures for 2D materials-based fabricated devices.
