Layer-Number Dependent Optical Properties of 2D Materials and Their Application for Thickness Determination

The quantum confinement in atomic scale and the presence of interlayer coupling in multilayer make the electronic and optical properties of 2D materials (2DMs) be dependent on the layer number (N) from monolayer to multilayer. Optical properties of 2DMs have been widely probed by several optical techniques, such as optical contrast, Rayleigh scattering, Raman spectroscopy, optical absorption, photoluminescence, and second harmonic generation. Here, it is reviewed how optical properties of several typical 2DMs (e.g., monolayer and multilayer graphenes, transition metal dichalcogenides) probed by these optical techniques significantly depend on N. Further, it has been demonstrated how these optical techniques service as fast and non-destructive approaches for N counting or thickness determination of these typical 2DM flakes. The corresponding approaches can be extended to the whole 2DM family produced by micromechanical exfoliations, chemical-vapor-deposition growth, or transfer processes on various substrates, which bridges the gap between the characterization and international standardization for thickness determination of 2DM flakes.