Advance in additive manufacturing of 2D materials at the atomic and close-to-atomic scale

Atomic and close-to-atomic scale manufacturing (ACSM) has emerged as promising technologies in the manufacturing paradigm. Among various materials, 2D materials have garnered significant attention for ACSM due to their atomic-scale characteristics and physical properties. While chemical vapor deposition (CVD) can be employed to produce high-quality 2D materials, achieving patterning often relies on photolithography techniques, which limit scalability and introduce impurities. To address these challenges, this article serves as a review by focusing on exploring atomic-scale additive manufacturing methods for 2D materials. Several potential techniques are reviewed, including site-selective CVD, area-selective atomic layer deposition, electrodeposition, laser-assisted synthesis, print methods, and atomic layer-aligned stacking. The applications of atomic-scale additive manufacturing in various fields, such as electronics, biosensing, and nanoelectromechanical systems, are discussed. Finally, the future prospects of atomic-scale additive manufacturing for 2D materials based on existing research are delved into.