Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy

Natalie Briggs; Brian Bersch; Yuanxi Wang; Jue Jiang; Roland J. Koch; Nadire Nayir; Ke Wang; Marek Kolmer; Wonhee Ko; Ana De La Fuente Duran; Shruti Subramanian; Chengye Dong; Jeffrey Shallenberger; Mingming Fu; Qiang Zou; Ya Wen Chuang; Zheng Gai; An Ping Li; Aaron Bostwick; Chris Jozwiak; Cui Zu Chang; Eli Rotenberg; Jun Zhu; Adri C.T. van Duin; Vincent Crespi; Joshua A. Robinson

doi:10.1038/s41563-020-0631-x

Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy

Natalie Briggs, Brian Bersch, Yuanxi Wang, Jue Jiang, Roland J. Koch, Nadire Nayir, Ke Wang, Marek Kolmer, Wonhee Ko, Ana De La Fuente Duran, Shruti Subramanian, Chengye Dong, Jeffrey Shallenberger, Mingming Fu, Qiang Zou, Ya Wen Chuang, Zheng Gai, An Ping Li, Aaron Bostwick, Chris JozwiakCui Zu Chang, Eli Rotenberg, Jun Zhu, Adri C.T. van Duin, Vincent Crespi, Joshua A. Robinson

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Group

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

125 Scopus citations

Abstract

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) metals may be key ingredients in next-generation quantum and optoelectronic devices. However, 2D metals must be stabilized against environmental degradation and integrated into heterostructure devices at the wafer scale. The high-energy interface between silicon carbide and epitaxial graphene provides an intriguing framework for stabilizing a diverse range of 2D metals. Here we demonstrate large-area, environmentally stable, single-crystal 2D gallium, indium and tin that are stabilized at the interface of epitaxial graphene and silicon carbide. The 2D metals are covalently bonded to SiC below but present a non-bonded interface to the graphene overlayer; that is, they are ‘half van der Waals’ metals with strong internal gradients in bonding character. These non-centrosymmetric 2D metals offer compelling opportunities for superconducting devices, topological phenomena and advanced optoelectronic properties. For example, the reported 2D Ga is a superconductor that combines six strongly coupled Ga-derived electron pockets with a large nearly free-electron Fermi surface that closely approaches the Dirac points of the graphene overlayer.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	637-643
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Materials
Volume	19
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0631-x
State	Published - Jun 1 2020

Funding

Funding for this work was provided by the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems’ University Research Program, Semiconductor Research Corporation Intel/Global Research Collaboration Fellowship Program, task 2741.001, National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awards 1453924 and 1847811, the Chinese Scholarship Council, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, NSF DMR-1708972 and 1808900, and the 2D Crystal Consortium NSF Materials Innovation Platform under cooperative agreement DMR-1539916. A portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility, and at the Pennsylvania State University Materials Research Institute’s Material Characterization Laboratory. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. We acknowledge Haiying Wang for help with STEM sample cross-section preparation via FIB; Vince Bojan, Nabil Bassim and Heshem Elsherif for help with AES; and Max Wetherington for Raman spectroscopy support.

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Briggs, N., Bersch, B., Wang, Y., Jiang, J., Koch, R. J., Nayir, N., Wang, K., Kolmer, M., Ko, W., De La Fuente Duran, A., Subramanian, S., Dong, C., Shallenberger, J., Fu, M., Zou, Q., Chuang, Y. W., Gai, Z., Li, A. P., Bostwick, A., ... Robinson, J. A. (2020). Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy. Nature Materials, 19(6), 637-643. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0631-x

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title = "Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy",

abstract = "Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) metals may be key ingredients in next-generation quantum and optoelectronic devices. However, 2D metals must be stabilized against environmental degradation and integrated into heterostructure devices at the wafer scale. The high-energy interface between silicon carbide and epitaxial graphene provides an intriguing framework for stabilizing a diverse range of 2D metals. Here we demonstrate large-area, environmentally stable, single-crystal 2D gallium, indium and tin that are stabilized at the interface of epitaxial graphene and silicon carbide. The 2D metals are covalently bonded to SiC below but present a non-bonded interface to the graphene overlayer; that is, they are {\textquoteleft}half van der Waals{\textquoteright} metals with strong internal gradients in bonding character. These non-centrosymmetric 2D metals offer compelling opportunities for superconducting devices, topological phenomena and advanced optoelectronic properties. For example, the reported 2D Ga is a superconductor that combines six strongly coupled Ga-derived electron pockets with a large nearly free-electron Fermi surface that closely approaches the Dirac points of the graphene overlayer.",

author = "Natalie Briggs and Brian Bersch and Yuanxi Wang and Jue Jiang and Koch, {Roland J.} and Nadire Nayir and Ke Wang and Marek Kolmer and Wonhee Ko and {De La Fuente Duran}, Ana and Shruti Subramanian and Chengye Dong and Jeffrey Shallenberger and Mingming Fu and Qiang Zou and Chuang, {Ya Wen} and Zheng Gai and Li, {An Ping} and Aaron Bostwick and Chris Jozwiak and Chang, {Cui Zu} and Eli Rotenberg and Jun Zhu and {van Duin}, {Adri C.T.} and Vincent Crespi and Robinson, {Joshua A.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

year = "2020",

month = jun,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1038/s41563-020-0631-x",

language = "English",

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Briggs, N, Bersch, B, Wang, Y, Jiang, J, Koch, RJ, Nayir, N, Wang, K, Kolmer, M, Ko, W, De La Fuente Duran, A, Subramanian, S, Dong, C, Shallenberger, J, Fu, M, Zou, Q, Chuang, YW, Gai, Z , Li, AP, Bostwick, A, Jozwiak, C, Chang, CZ, Rotenberg, E, Zhu, J, van Duin, ACT, Crespi, V & Robinson, JA 2020, 'Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy', Nature Materials, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 637-643. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0631-x

TY - JOUR

T1 - Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy

AU - Briggs, Natalie

AU - Bersch, Brian

AU - Wang, Yuanxi

AU - Jiang, Jue

AU - Koch, Roland J.

AU - Nayir, Nadire

AU - Wang, Ke

AU - Kolmer, Marek

AU - Ko, Wonhee

AU - De La Fuente Duran, Ana

AU - Subramanian, Shruti

AU - Dong, Chengye

AU - Shallenberger, Jeffrey

AU - Fu, Mingming

AU - Zou, Qiang

AU - Chuang, Ya Wen

AU - Gai, Zheng

AU - Li, An Ping

AU - Bostwick, Aaron

AU - Jozwiak, Chris

AU - Chang, Cui Zu

AU - Rotenberg, Eli

AU - Zhu, Jun

AU - van Duin, Adri C.T.

AU - Crespi, Vincent

AU - Robinson, Joshua A.

PY - 2020/6/1

Y1 - 2020/6/1

N2 - Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) metals may be key ingredients in next-generation quantum and optoelectronic devices. However, 2D metals must be stabilized against environmental degradation and integrated into heterostructure devices at the wafer scale. The high-energy interface between silicon carbide and epitaxial graphene provides an intriguing framework for stabilizing a diverse range of 2D metals. Here we demonstrate large-area, environmentally stable, single-crystal 2D gallium, indium and tin that are stabilized at the interface of epitaxial graphene and silicon carbide. The 2D metals are covalently bonded to SiC below but present a non-bonded interface to the graphene overlayer; that is, they are ‘half van der Waals’ metals with strong internal gradients in bonding character. These non-centrosymmetric 2D metals offer compelling opportunities for superconducting devices, topological phenomena and advanced optoelectronic properties. For example, the reported 2D Ga is a superconductor that combines six strongly coupled Ga-derived electron pockets with a large nearly free-electron Fermi surface that closely approaches the Dirac points of the graphene overlayer.

AB - Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) metals may be key ingredients in next-generation quantum and optoelectronic devices. However, 2D metals must be stabilized against environmental degradation and integrated into heterostructure devices at the wafer scale. The high-energy interface between silicon carbide and epitaxial graphene provides an intriguing framework for stabilizing a diverse range of 2D metals. Here we demonstrate large-area, environmentally stable, single-crystal 2D gallium, indium and tin that are stabilized at the interface of epitaxial graphene and silicon carbide. The 2D metals are covalently bonded to SiC below but present a non-bonded interface to the graphene overlayer; that is, they are ‘half van der Waals’ metals with strong internal gradients in bonding character. These non-centrosymmetric 2D metals offer compelling opportunities for superconducting devices, topological phenomena and advanced optoelectronic properties. For example, the reported 2D Ga is a superconductor that combines six strongly coupled Ga-derived electron pockets with a large nearly free-electron Fermi surface that closely approaches the Dirac points of the graphene overlayer.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41563-020-0631-x

DO - 10.1038/s41563-020-0631-x

M3 - Article

C2 - 32157191

AN - SCOPUS:85081656460

SN - 1476-1122

VL - 19

SP - 637

EP - 643

JO - Nature Materials

JF - Nature Materials

IS - 6

ER -

Atomically thin half-van der Waals metals enabled by confinement heteroepitaxy

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