Nucleation control is a central challenge in semiconductor deposition because it governs where and how crystals form. Conventional techniques can regulate nucleation density and even restrict growth to selected regions, but they leave the exact location of a single nucleus within those regions random. That stochastic behavior limits deterministic construction of crystalline materials.
A team from KAIST, TDS Innovation, Hanyang University, UNIST and other institutions reports an approach called etching-flux-mediated single-centred nucleation. By tuning the etching flux during growth, they are able to place a single nucleation event at a predetermined site inside the growth area. The method directly addresses the gap between coarse area-selective deposition and fine-grained spatial control.
The work, published in Nature, demonstrates deterministic localization of 2D semiconductor nucleation. If it scales, this could enable more precise arrangement of atomically thin crystals for future devices, where the position of each grain or flake matters. This summary is based solely on the referenced paper and reflects its reported findings.