Fig. 1. Growth of wafer-scale monolayer MoS₂ by sulfur monomer supply.

a Schematic of sulfur (S) monomer supply for the growth of MoS₂. At high temperature, the released S monomers from the surface of ZnS and the vaporized Mo source from the precoated silica fiber fabric can penetrate the porous fabric and form monolayer MoS₂ on the target substrate. d₁ and d₂ are the distances from the substrate to the ZnS and the silica fiber fabric, respectively. The red arrow denotes the diffusion of S monomers released from the ZnS surface. b In-situ mass spectrum of ZnS annealed at 1000 °C. The intense peak at the mass of 32 clearly proves the dominating release of S monomers. The measurements were carried out with carrier gas of He and the data was subtracted by background. c The illustration of the temperature-dependent release rate of S monomers (orange curve) and evapouration rate of Mo precursor (dark yellow curve). d The landing probability of Mo precursor (orange curve) as a function of d₂ as modelled in Supplementary Note 2. e Optical image of the as-grown monolayer MoS₂ domains on sapphire when d₂ is 100 μm. f Photograph of a 2-inch monolayer MoS₂ film on sapphire when d₂ is 20 μm. The uncovered regions are the positions of the mica spacers.