Gallium chalcogenides are promising building blocks for novel van der Waals heterostructures. We report low-temperature micro-photoluminescence (PL) of GaTe and GaSe films with thickness ranging from from 200 nm to a single unit cell. In both materia
ls, PL shows dramatic decrease by 10$^4$-10$^5$ when film thickness is reduced from 200 to 10 nm. Based on evidence from cw and time-resolved PL, we propose a model explaining the PL decrease as a result of non-radiative carrier escape via surface states.
Two-dimensional (2D) compounds provide unique building blocks for novel layered devices and hybrid photonic structures. However, large surface-to-volume ratio in thin films enhances the significance of surface interactions and charging effects requir
ing new understanding. Here we use micro-photoluminescence (PL) and ultrasonic force microscopy to explore the influence of the dielectric environment on optical properties of a few monolayer MoS2 films. PL spectra for MoS2 films deposited on SiO2 substrates are found to vary widely. This film-to-film variation is suppressed by additional capping of MoS2 with SiO2 and SiN, improving mechanical coupling of MoS2 with surrounding dielectrics. We show that the observed PL non-uniformities are related to strong variation in the local electron charging of MoS2 films. In completely encapsulated films, negative charging is enhanced leading to uniform optical properties. Observed great sensitivity of optical characteristics of 2D films to surface interactions has important implications for optoelectronics applications of layered materials.
