Ultrathin WS2 films are promising functional materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices. Therefore, their synthesis over a large area, allowing control over their thickness and structure, is an essential task. In this work, we investigated the influence of atomic layer deposition (ALD)-grown WO3 seed-film thickness on the structural and electrical properties of WS2 nanosheets obtained via a sulfurization technique. Transmission electron microscopy indicated that the thinnest (1.9 nm) film contains rather big (up to 50 nm) WS2 grains in the amorphous matrix. The signs of incomplete sulfurization, namely, oxysulfide phase presence, were found by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy analysis. The increase in the seed-film thickness of up to 4.7 nm resulted in a visible grain size decrease down to 15-20 nm, which was accompanied by defect suppression. The observed structural evolution affected the film resistivity, which was found to decrease from ∼106 to 103 (μΩ·cm) within the investigated thickness range. These results show that the thickness of the ALD-grown seed layer may strongly affect the resultant WS2 structure and properties. Most valuably, it was shown that the growth of the thinnest WS2 film (3-4 monolayers) is most challenging due to the amorphous intergrain phase formation, and further investigations focused on preventing the intergrain phase formation should be conducted.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.