No Arabic abstract
The discovery of graphene has put the spotlight on other layered materials including transition metal dichalcogenites (TMD) as building blocks for novel heterostructures assembled from stacked atomic layers. Molybdenum disulfide, MoS2, a semiconductor in the TMD family, with its remarkable thermal and chemical stability and high mobility, has emerged as a promising candidate for post-silicon applications such as switching, photonics, and flexible electronics. Since these rely on controlling the position of the Fermi energy (EF), it is crucial to understand its dependence on doping and gating. Here we employed scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) with gating capabilities to measure the bandgap and the position of EF in MoS2, and to track its evolution with gate voltage. For bulk samples, the measured bandgap (~1.3eV) is comparable to the value obtained by photoluminescence, and the position of EF (~0.35eV) below the conduction band, is consistent with n-doping reported in this material. Using topography together with spectroscopy we traced the source of the n-doping in bulk MoS2 samples to point defects, which we attribute to S vacancies. In contrast, for thin films deposited on SiO2, we found significantly higher levels of n-doping that cannot be attributed to S vacancies. By combining gated STS with transport measurements in a field effect transistor (FET) configuration, we demonstrate that the higher levels of n-doping in thin film samples is due to charge traps at the sample-substrate interface.
We present an extension of the tunneling theory for scanning tunneling microcopy (STM) to include different types of vibrational-electronic couplings responsible for inelastic contributions to the tunnel current in the strong-coupling limit. It allows for a better understanding of more complex scanning tunneling spectra of molecules on a metallic substrate in separating elastic and inelastic contributions. The starting point is the exact solution of the spectral functions for the electronic active local orbitals in the absence of the STM tip. This includes electron-phonon coupling in the coupled system comprising the molecule and the substrate to arbitrary order including the anti-adiabatic strong coupling regime as well as the Kondo effect on a free electron spin of the molecule. The tunneling current is derived in second order of the tunneling matrix element which is expanded in powers of the relevant vibrational displacements. We use the results of an ab-initio calculation for the single-particle electronic properties as an adapted material-specific input for a numerical renormalization group approach for accurately determining the electronic properties of a NTCDA molecule on Ag(111) as a challenging sample system for our theory. Our analysis shows that the mismatch between the ab-initio many-body calculation of the tunnel current in the absence of any electron-phonon coupling to the experiment scanning tunneling spectra can be resolved by including two mechanisms: (i) a strong unconventional Holstein term on the local substrate orbital leads to reduction of the Kondo temperature and (ii) a different electron-vibrational coupling to the tunneling matrix element is responsible for inelastic steps in the $dI/dV$ curve at finite frequencies.
Exotic quantum phenomena have been demonstrated in recently discovered intrinsic magnetic topological insulator MnBi2Te4. At its two-dimensional limit, quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect and axion insulator state are observed in odd and even layers of MnBi2Te4, respectively. The measured band structures exhibit intriguing and complex properties. Here we employ low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy to study its surface states and magnetic response. The quasiparticle interference patterns indicate that the electronic structures on the topmost layer of MnBi2Te4 is different from that of the expected out-of-plane A-type antiferromagnetic phase. The topological surface states may be embedded in deeper layers beneath the topmost surface. Such novel electronic structure presumably related to the modification of crystalline structure during sample cleaving and re-orientation of magnetic moment of Mn atoms near the surface. Mn dopants substituted at the Bi site on the second atomic layer are observed. The ratio of Mn/Bi substitutions is 5%. The electronic structures are fluctuating at atomic scale on the surface, which can affect the magnetism of MnBi2Te4. Our findings shed new lights on the magnetic property of MnBi2Te4 and thus the design of magnetic topological insulators.
Scanning tunneling microscope (STM) has presented a revolutionary methodology to the nanoscience and nanotechnology. It enables imaging the topography of surfaces, mapping the distribution of electronic density of states, and manipulating individual atoms and molecules, all at the atomic resolution. In particular, the atom manipulation capability has evolved from fabricating individual nanostructures towards the scalable production of the atomic-sized devices bottom-up. The combination of precision synthesis and in situ characterization of the atomically precise structures has enabled direct visualization of many quantum phenomena and fast proof-of-principle testing of quantum device functions with real-time feedback to guide the improved synthesis. In this article, several representative examples are reviewed to demonstrate the recent development of atomic scale manipulation. Especially, the review focuses on the progress that address the quantum properties by design through the precise control of the atomic structures in several technologically relevant materials systems. Besides conventional STM manipulations and electronic structure characterization with single-probe STM, integration of multiple atomically precisely controlled probes in a multiprobe STM system vastly extends the capability of in situ characterization to a new dimension where the charge and spin transport behaviors can be examined from mesoscopic to atomic length scale. The automation of the atomic scale manipulation and the integration with the well-established lithographic processes would further push this bottom-up approach to a new level that combines reproducible fabrication, extraordinary programmability, and the ability to produce large-scale arrays of quantum structures.
We present a microscopic investigation of frequently observed impurity-induced states in stoichiometric LiFeAs using low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS). Our data reveal seven distinct well defined defects which are discernible in topographic measurements. Depending on their local topographic symmetry, we are able to assign five defect types to specific lattice sites at the Li, Fe and As positions. The most prominent result is that two different defect types have a remarkably different impact on the superconducting state. A specific and quite abundant Fe-defect with $D_2$-symmetry generates significant impurity-induced additional states primarily at positive bias voltage with pronounced peaks in the on-site local density of states (LDOS) at about 4~mV and 12~mV. On the other hand, a $D_4$-symmetric As-defect causes a significantly enhanced LDOS at both positive and negative bias voltages. We expect that these findings provide fresh input for further experimental and theoretical studies on elucidating the nature of superconductivity in LiFeAs.
A simple, reliable method for preparation of bulk Cr tips for Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) is proposed and its potentialities in performing high-quality and high-resolution STM and Spin Polarized-STM (SP-STM) are investigated. Cr tips show atomic resolution on ordered surfaces. Contrary to what happens with conventional W tips, rest atoms of the Si(111)-7x7 reconstruction can be routinely observed, probably due to a different electronic structure of the tip apex. SP-STM measurements of the Cr(001) surface showing magnetic contrast are reported. Our results reveal that the peculiar properties of these tips can be suited in a number of STM experimental situations.