Modern electronic devices often rely on combining different materials, each with a special job. One group of materials attracting growing attention is called van der Waals materials. Because of this, different materials can be stacked together almost like sheets of paper while keeping their surfaces clean. The surfaces of van der Waals materials are chemically stable, making it difficult for new semiconductor layers to grow in an organized way. The researchers also showed that the method works on several different van der Waals materials, including tungsten diselenide, molybdenum disulfide, rhenium diselenide, and mica.