Making Large‐Area Titanium Disulfide Films at Reduced Temperature by Balancing the Kinetics of Sulfurization and Roughening

The synthesis of large‐area TiS₂ thin films is reported at temperatures as low as 500 °C using a scalable two‐step method of metal film deposition followed by sulfurization in an H₂S gas furnace. It is demonstrated that the lowest‐achievable sulfurization temperature depends strongly on the oxygen background during sulfurization. This dependence arises because Ti? O bonds present a substantial kinetic and thermodynamic barrier to TiS₂ formation. Lowering the sulfurization temperature is important to make smooth films, and to enable integration of TiS₂ and related transition metal dichalcogenides—including metastable phases and alloys—into device technology.