No Arabic abstract
Here we use low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy to reveal the roles of the narrow electronic band in two 1$T$-TaS$_2$ related materials (bulk 1$T$-TaS$_2$ and 4$H_{rm b}$-TaS$_2$). 4$H_{rm b}$-TaS$_2$ is a superconducting compound with alternating 1$T$-TaS$_2$ and 1$H$-TaS$_2$ layers, where the 1$H$-TaS$_2$ layer has weak charge density wave (CDW) pattern and reduces the CDW coupling between the adjacent 1$T$-TaS$_2$ layers. In the 1$T$-TaS$_2$ layer of 4$H_{rm b}$-TaS$_2$, we observe a narrow electronic band located near Fermi level, and its spatial distribution is consistent with the tight-binding calculations for two-dimensional 1$T$-TaS$_2$ layers. The weak electronic hybridization between the 1$T$-TaS$_2$ and 1$H$-TaS$_2$ layers in 4$H_{rm b}$-TaS$_2$ shifts the narrow electronic band to be slightly above the Fermi level, which suppresses the electronic correlation induced band splitting. In contrast, in bulk 1$T$-TaS$_2$, there is an interlayer CDW coupling induced insulating gap. In comparison with the spatial distributions of the electronic states in bulk 1$T$-TaS$_2$ and 4$H_{rm b}$-TaS$_2$, the insulating gap in bulk 1$T$-TaS$_2$ results from the formation of a bonding band and an antibonding band due to the overlap of the narrow electronic bands in the dimerized 1$T$-TaS$_2$ layers.
The electronic, magnetic and transport properties of Fe intercalated 2H-TaS$_2$ have been investigated by means of the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (KKR) method. The non-stoichiometry and disorder in the system has been accounted for using the Coherent Potential Approximation (CPA) alloy theory. A pronounced influence of disorder on the spin magnetic moment has been found for the ferro-magnetically ordered material. The same applies for the spin-orbit induced orbital magnetic moment and magneto-crystalline anisotropy energy. The temperature-dependence of the resistivity of disordered 2H-Fe$_{0.28}$TaS$_2$ investigated on the basis of the Kubo-Stv{r}eda formalism in combination with the alloy analogy model has been found in very satisfying agreement with experimental data. This also holds for the temperature dependent anomalous Hall resistivity $ rho_{rm xy}(T) $. The role of thermally induced lattice vibrations and spin fluctuations for the transport properties is discussed in detail.
In 2D-semiconductor-based field-effect transistors and optoelectronic devices, metal-semiconductor junctions are one of the crucial factors determining device performance. The Fermi-level (FL) pinning effect, which commonly caused by interfacial gap states, severely limits the tunability of junction characteristics, including barrier height and contact resistance. A tunneling contact scheme has been suggested to address the FL pinning issue in metal-2D-semiconductor junctions, whereas the experimental realization is still elusive. Here, we show that an oxidized-monolayer-enabled tunneling barrier can realize a pronounced FL depinning in indium selenide (InSe) transistors, exhibiting a large pinning factor of 0.5 and a highly modulated Schottky barrier height. The FL depinning can be attributed to the suppression of metal- and disorder-induced gap states as a result of the high-quality tunneling contacts. Structural characterizations indicate uniform and atomically thin surface oxidation layer inherent from nature of van der Waals materials and atomically sharp oxide-2D-semiconductor interfaces. Moreover, by effectively lowering the Schottky barrier height, we achieve an electron mobility of 2160 cm$^2$/Vs and a contact barrier of 65 meV in two-terminal InSe transistors. The realization of strong FL depinning in high-mobility InSe transistors with the oxidized monolayer presents a viable strategy to exploit layered semiconductors in contact engineering for advanced electronics and optoelectronics.
New theoretical proposals and experimental findings on transition metal dichalcogenide 1T-TaS$_2$ have revived interests in its possible Mott insulating state. We perform a comprehensive scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy experiment on different single-step areas in pristine 1T-TaS$_2$. After accurately determining the relative displacement of Star-of-David super-lattices in two layers, we find different stacking orders corresponding to the different electronic states measured on the upper terrace. The center-to-center stacking corresponds to the universal large gap, while other stacking orders correspond to a reduced or suppressed gap in the electronic spectrum. Adopting a unified model, we conclude that the universal large gap is a correlation-induced Mott gap from the single-layer property. Our work provides more evidence about the surface electronic state and deepens our understanding of the Mott insulating state in 1T-TaS$_2$.
Topological superconductivity has attracted intensive interest for its ability of hosting Majorana zero mode and implementing in topological quantum computations. Based on the first-principles calculations and the analysis of the effective BdG Hamiltonian, we demonstrate that 1$T$-TiTe$_2$ is a topological metal hosting Dirac cone type of surface states near the Fermi level, and it exhibits a normal-topological-normal superconductivity phase transition as a function of the chemical potential. These results point out a new promising topological superconductor without random dopant, in which the influence of the impurity may be greatly reduced. Furthermore, our calculations also suggest that the transition metal intercalated Ti(Se$_{1-y}$Te$_y$)$_2$ is also a highly possible route to realize TSC and MZMs.
1T-TaS$_2$ undergoes successive phase transitions upon cooling and eventually enters an insulating state of mysterious origin. Some consider this state to be a band insulator with interlayer stacking order, yet others attribute it to Mott physics that support a quantum spin liquid state.Here, we determine the electronic and structural properties of 1T-TaS$_2$ using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and X-Ray diffraction. At low temperatures, the 2$pi$/2c-periodic band dispersion, along with half-integer-indexed diffraction peaks along the c axis, unambiguously indicates that the ground state of 1T-TaS$_2$ is a band insulator with interlayer dimerization. Upon heating, however, the system undergoes a transition into a Mott insulating state, which only exists in a narrow temperature window. Our results refute the idea of searching for quantum magnetism in 1T-TaS$_2$ only at low temperatures, and highlight the competition between on-site Coulomb repulsion and interlayer hopping as a crucial aspect for understanding the materials electronic properties.