Investigations of 2D materials have increased substantially, as they have been shown to exhibit a wide range of novel electronic properties. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), depending on the polytype and number of d-electrons, can exhibit metallic, semi-metallic, and semiconducting behavior. In addition, enhancements to optical behavior, especially in the form of absorption, have been observed in these 2D materials.  In contrast to the well-known 2D material graphene, the presence of a bandgap, as well as device performance on transistors fabricated using certain TDMCs, indicate that they could serve as possible successor materials to Si. The successful, industrial deployment of such materials however relies on the ability of large scale synthesis of high quality TMDCs.

Large scale, high quality growth of graphene has been enabled by successful application of vapor deposition techniques such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In extending the quest for high quality, large scale synthesis of 2D TMDCs, similar vapor deposition techniques have been explored, mainly CVD. Yet, high quality extended 2D TMDCs are still lacking.

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) can be instrumental to the production of large area, two-dimensional materials, and simultaneously offer superior alternatives to exfoliating methods. In this work we consider the transition metal dichalcogenide MoS₂ – specifically its growth starting from an ALD route comprised of  (^tBuN)₂(NMe₂)₂Mo and O₃ to produce MoO₃, followed by subsequent sulfurization steps to produce MoS₂. Data from a variety of direct measurement techniques, including atomic force microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy, for determining the existence and optical properties of monolayer MoS₂ will be presented.