Inside computer chips are billions of tiny transistors made from silicon. But the material is approaching its limits. In an effort to build smaller, more capable devices, researchers are exploring how they might build transistors with other materials alongside silicon, including a class of extremely thin materials called transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD). One of the leading TMD candidates is a material called molybdenum disulfide. It is only three atoms thick: one layer of molybdenum sandwiched between two layers of sulfur.

Inside computer chips are billions of tiny transistors made from silicon. But the material is approaching its limits. In an effort to build smaller, more capable devices,…

A simple surface coating could make it easier to reliably make parts of next-generation computer chips using silicon and a promising new class of materials called transition metal…