Synthesis of Large-area Crystalline MoTe$_{2}$ Atomic layer from Chemical Vapor Deposition

The controlled synthesis of highly crystalline large-area molybdenum ditelluride MoTe$_{2}$ atomic layers is crucial for the practical applications of this emerging material. Here we develop a novel approach for the growth of large-area, uniform and highly crystalline few-layer MoTe$_{2}$ film via chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Large-area atomically thin MoTe$_{2}$ film has been successfully synthesized by tellurization of a MoO$_{3}$ film. The as-grown MoTe$_{2}$ film is uniform, stoichiometric, and highly crystalline. As a result of the high crystallinity, the electronic properties of MoTe$_{2}$ film are comparable with that of mechanically exfoliated MoTe$_{2}$ flakes. Moreover, we found that two different phases of MoTe$_{2}$ (2H and 1T') can be grown depending on the choice of Mo precursor. Since the MoTe$_{2}$ film is highly homogenous, and the size of the film is only limited by the substrate and CVD system size, our growth method paves the way for large-scale application of MoTe$_{2}$ in high performance nanoelectronics and optoelectronics.