Ice buffer layer assisted in situ soft-landing for van der Waals integration

Van der Waals (vdW) integration is crucial for establishing damage-free interfacial contacts in electronic devices, yet conventional physical transfer methods face challenges in compatibility with standard lithography and metallization processes. Here we develop an ice-assisted in situ transfer strategy that utilizes a water ice buffer layer to protect substrates from energetic particle bombardment during metal deposition. Subsequent sublimation of the ice enables direct formation of atomically clean metal-semiconductor interfaces. This approach achieves non-destructive fabrication of high-quality vdW contacts on both ultrathin semiconductors (e.g., monolayer MoS 2 ) and fragile halide perovskite materials. The demonstrated compatibility with conventional semiconductor manufacturing highlights the method's potential as a universal strategy for constructing pristine interfacial contacts through vdW integration.