Published January 1, 2020 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Prevalence of oxygen defects in an in-plane anisotropic transition metal dichalcogenide

  • 1. Univ Ottawa, Dept Phys, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • 2. Izmir Inst Technol, Dept Photon, TR-35430 Izmir, Turkey
  • 3. CNR, Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • 4. Ferdowsi Univ Mashhad, Dept Phys, Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan, Iran
  • 5. Wroclaw Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Theoret Phys, Wroclaw, Poland
  • 6. Univ Antwerp, Dept Phys, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium

Description

Atomic scale defects in semiconductors enable their technological applications and realization of different quantum states. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy complemented by ab initio calculations we determine the nature of defects in the anisotropic van der Waals layered semiconductor ReS2. We demonstrate the in-plane anisotropy of the lattice by directly visualizing chains of rhenium atoms forming diamond-shaped clusters. Using scanning tunneling spectroscopy we measure the semiconducting gap in the density of states. We reveal the presence of lattice defects and by comparison of their topographic and spectroscopic signatures with ab initio calculations we determine their origin as oxygen atoms absorbed at lattice point defect sites. These results provide an atomic-scale view into the semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides, paving the way toward understanding and engineering their properties.

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