Two Dimensional Atomically Thin Materials and Hybrid Superconducting Devices

In this thesis a variety of topics concerning 2D materials that have been separated from bulk layered crystals are discussed. Throughout the thesis, single and few layers of graphene, fluorinated graphene, MoS2 and WS2 are used. Two new methods of freely suspending 2D materials are presented as well as a method of removing the background from optical images. This aids contrast measurements for the determination of the number of layers. Fluorinated graphene is found to be sensitive to beta radiation; the resistance of fluorinated graphene transistors is shown to decrease upon exposure to the radiation. This happens due to the carbon-fluorine bond breaking. The sp3 hybridised structure of the fluorinated graphene is reduced back into the sp2 hybridised structure of pristine graphene. The superconducting properties of molybdenum-rhenium are characterised. It is shown to have a transition temperature of 7.5 K. It is also discovered that the material has a resistance to hydrofluoric acid; the acid etches nearly all other superconducting materials. This makes MoRe a possible candidate to explore superconductivity in conjunction with high mobility suspended graphene. To see if the material is compatible with graphene, a supported Josephson junction is fabricated. A proximity induced super current is sustained through the junction up to biases of ∼ 200 nA. The temperature dependence of the conductivity is measured for both suspended MoS2 and WS2 on a hexagonal boron nitride substrate. The dominant hopping mechanism that contributes to the conductivity at low temperatures is found to be Mott variable range hopping, with the characteristic T−1/3 dependence. The hopping transport is due to impurities that are intrinsic to the crystals, this is confirmed by comparing the results with those of supported devices on SiO2.EPSR