Strain engineering 2D MoS₂ with thin film stress capping layers

We demonstrate a method to induce tensile and compressive strain into two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) MoS2 via the deposition of stressed thin films to encapsulate exfoliated flakes. With this technique we can directly engineer MoS2 strain magnitude by changing deposited thin film stress, therefore allowing variable strain to be applied on a flake-to-flake level. These thin film stressors are analogous to SiNx based...