[en] Tantalum disulfide (TaS₂) is a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) that exhibits phase transition induced electronic property modulation at low temperature. However, the appropriate phase must be grown to enable the semiconductor/metal transition that is of interest for next generation electronic applications. In this work, we demonstrate direct and controllable synthesis of ultra-thin 1T-TaS₂ and 2H-TaS₂ on a variety of substrates (sapphire, SiO₂/Si, and graphene) via powder vapor deposition. The synthesis process leads to single crystal domains ranging from 20 to 200 nm thick and 1–10 µm on a side. The TaS₂ phase (1T or 2H) is controlled by synthesis temperature, which subsequently is shown to control the electronic properties. Furthermore, this work constitutes the first demonstration of a metal–insulator phase transition in directly synthesized 1T-TaS₂ films and domains by electronic means. (paper)