High quality 2D crystals made by anodic bonding: a general technique for layered materials

Anodic bonding of nanolayers is an easy technique based on a simple apparatus, which has already proven successful in application in the fabrication of high quality graphene. Here we demonstrate its extension to the fabrication of high quality nanolayers from several layered materials. The strengths of this technique are its high throughput rate and ease of application. All fabrication parameters are controllable and need to be determined carefully. We report optimal parameters found for nine layered materials. In general, using optimal parameters results in high quality 2D layers, in most cases much larger than those obtained by 'Scotch tape' microcleavage, with higher yields and which are easily transferable to other substrates. Moreover the samples obtained are clean and the good optical contrast of these layers on the glass substrate makes their identification very easy. This is thus the technique of choice for making nanolayers in the laboratory from any layered material.