  CONSPECTUS: Two-dimensional (2D) compound materials are promising materials
for use in electronics, optoelectronics, flexible devices, etc. because they
are ultrathin and cover a wide range of properties. Among all methods to
prepare 2D materials, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is promising because it
produces materials with a high quality and reasonable cost. So far, much
efforts have been made to produce 2D compound materials with large domain size,
controllable number of layers, fast-growth rate, and high quality features,
etc. However, due to the complicated growth mechanism like sublimation and
diffusion processes of multiple precursors, maintaining the controllability,
repeatability, and high quality of CVD grown 2D binary and ternary materials is
still a big challenge, which prevents their widespread use. Here, taking 2D
transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) as examples, we review current
progress and highlight some promising growth strategies for the growth of 2D
compound materials. The key technology issues which affect the CVD process,
including non-metal precursor, metal precursor, substrate engineering,
temperature, and gas flow, are discussed. Also, methods in improving the
quality of CVD-grown 2D materials and current understanding on their growth
mechanism are highlighted. Finally, challenges and opportunities in this field
are proposed. We believe this review will guide the future design of
controllable CVD systems for the growth of 2D compound materials with good
controllability and high quality, laying the foundations for their potential
applications.

Materials Science