## 4 Cost-Effective Transfer Setups  
Typically, the experimental setups used for the deterministic transfer and stacking of 2D materials are very expensive. The high cost is generally associated with the use of precision optics and mechanical components to achieve a high level of vibration isolation. A typical example of such system can be found in the earlier work of [PERSON] et al. [6], in which the authors demonstrated the all-dry viscoelastic stamping technique for stacking of 2D materials. In their work, a high-quality optical microscope (Olympus BX 51, Evident Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and a digital camera (Olympus DP25, Evident Corporation,  
Figure 4: (**a**) Optical image of the glovebox chamber employed by [PERSON] et al. [82] with the stamping setup installed inside. (**b**) Optical images showing the steps to insert hands into the chamber. (**c**) Handling the micrometer XYZ stage to precisely transfer a flake. (**d**) Transferring the top hBN flake to complete the hBN/BP/hBN stack. Adapted from [82] under Creative Common CC by 4.0 license. Tokyo, Japan), supplemented with large working distance optical objectives and a three-axis micrometer stage to accurately position the stamp, are used. The typical cost of such a setup could easily exceed $20,000, due to the high cost of the microscope. The very first reports of a moderately cost-effective transfer setup were also reported in the supplementary section of [PERSON] et al. [6]. The reported cost of their custom-designed setup was ~7000 Euros, with the significant cost reduction coming from the replacement of high-end optics with zoom lens. The bulk of the remaining cost is from the use of an expensive optical base and magnetic clamping systems. It must be noted that the viscoelastic method did not require substrate heating, so the reported transfer system was not built with a heating stage and was thus simpler in its design. See the supplementary section of [6] for design details and associated costs. Today, versatile systems with substrate heating and vacuum are also available commercially. For instance, www.hqgraphene.com provides a transfer setup that costs approximately USD 21,000. As noted earlier, transfer systems may also be based on retrofitting probe stations [70] and already existing mask aligners (Karl Suss MJB-3, SUSS MICROTEC SE, Garching, Germany used by [PERSON] et al. [121]). While these options may appear to be cost-effective for research groups already having access to such equipment, they are a non-starter for young researchers working in small- to medium-sized laboratory settings where there is no access to such sophisticated systems. Moreover, these transfer systems end up being bulky and immobile and having a large footprint, making their practicality questionable. In recent years, several further advancements have been made in designing transfer systems that are truly low-cost (<USD 1000) and their effectiveness has been proven with the successful assembly of high-quality heterostructures. [PERSON] et al. [81] built a low-cost setup (Figure 5a) for under 900 Euros. The setup employed in their work was very similar to the one reported earlier [6], but the significant cost reduction was achieved by using much lower cost optical breadboards and parts purchased from online providers, like Amazon and AliExpress. The effectiveness of the transfer setup was demonstrated by transferring a thin InSe flake onto prepatterned gold electrodes. The researchers were also able to transfer a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)-encapsulated InSe flake using the same setup. Yet another cost-effective system, built using a low-cost modular microscope along with the option of a heated sample stage, was reported by [PERSON] et al. [102] (Figure 5b). The use of a heated sample stage allowed the authors to perform the hot pickup transfer, and using this method they demonstrated the successful creation of sandwiched hBN/WSe\({}_{2}\) heterostructures. The cost of the system was reported to be under USD 1000.