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arXiv · 2602.19827

Suppressed Rupture of Thin Metal Films via van der Waals Epitaxy

Wenxiang Wang·Jiaxing Wang·Guotong Wang·Zhichao Yan·Chenxiao Jiang·Siqin Zhou·Chuanli Yu·Jianhao Chen·Kun Zheng·Thomas Salez·Xiaoding Wei·Zhaohe Dai
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Abstract

Ultrathin metal films exhibit liquid-like instabilities, rupturing via surface diffusion far below their melting points. This behavior constrains thermal budgets for advanced integrated circuits and emerging 2D-crystal devices. Here, we demonstrate that these instabilities can be fundamentally suppressed using graphene as a van der Waals (vdW) template. While conventional 20-nm-thick gold films break up into islands below 300 {\textdegree}C, templated films not only remain stable but also become structurally refined after annealing above 600 {\textdegree}C. This exceptional stability stems from a vdW-mediated crystallographic texture that reorganizes grain boundaries into a mechanically robust network. This mechanism significantly widens the processing window for nanoscale interconnects and enables high-temperature integration of metals with 2D-crystal technologies.

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Wenxiang Wang, Jiaxing Wang, Guotong Wang, Zhichao Yan, Chenxiao Jiang, Siqin Zhou, Chuanli Yu, Jianhao Chen, Kun Zheng, Thomas Salez, Xiaoding Wei, Zhaohe Dai. 2026-02-23. Suppressed Rupture of Thin Metal Films via van der Waals Epitaxy. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.19827

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