Coherent consolidation of trillions of nucleations for mono-atom step-level flat surfaces

Taewoo Ha; Yu Seong Seo; Teun Teun Kim; Bipin Lamichhane; Young Hoon Kim; Su Jae Kim; Yousil Lee; Jong Chan Kim; Sang Eon Park; Kyung Ik Sim; Jae Hoon Kim; Yong In Kim; Seon Je Kim; Hu Young Jeong; Young Hee Lee; Seong Gon Kim; Young Min Kim; Jungseek Hwang; Se Young Jeong

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36301-w

Coherent consolidation of trillions of nucleations for mono-atom step-level flat surfaces

Taewoo Ha, Yu Seong Seo, Teun Teun Kim, Bipin Lamichhane, Young Hoon Kim, Su Jae Kim, Yousil Lee, Jong Chan Kim, Sang Eon Park, Kyung Ik Sim, Jae Hoon Kim, Yong In Kim, Seon Je Kim, Hu Young Jeong, Young Hee Lee, Seong Gon Kim, Young Min Kim, Jungseek Hwang, Se Young Jeong

electron Microscopy and Microanalysis

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

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Constructing a mono-atom step-level ultra-flat material surface is challenging, especially for thin films, because it is prohibitively difficult for trillions of clusters to coherently merge. Even though a rough metal surface, as well as the scattering of carriers at grain boundaries, limits electron transport and obscures their intrinsic properties, the importance of the flat surface has not been emphasised sufficiently. In this study, we describe in detail the initial growth of copper thin films required for mono-atom step-level flat surfaces (MSFSs). Deposition using atomic sputtering epitaxy leads to the coherent merging of trillions of islands into a coplanar layer, eventually forming an MSFS, for which the key factor is suggested to be the individual deposition of single atoms. Theoretical calculations support that single sputtered atoms ensure the formation of highly aligned nanodroplets and help them to merge into a coplanar layer. The realisation of the ultra-flat surfaces is expected to greatly assist efforts to improve quantum behaviour by increasing the coherency of electrons.

Original language	English
Article number	685
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	14
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36301-w
State	Published - Dec 2023

Funding

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (nos., NRF-2022R1A2B5B03001219, NRF-2020R1A4A4078780, NRF-2019R1A6A1A11053838, 2021R1C1C1006316, 2019R1l1A1A01058304, 2016M3D1A1919181, 2020R1A2C1006207 and 2021R1A2C101109811), Institute for Basic Science (IBS-R011-D1) and by the Commercialization Promotion Agency for R&D Outcomes(COMPA) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT) (2022RMD-S08). Use of the TEM instrument was supported by the Advanced Facility Center for Quantum Technology at SKKU. We thank JEOL Korea for helping to assess mechanical vibrations on sputter systems in the revision.

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Ha, T., Seo, Y. S., Kim, T. T., Lamichhane, B., Kim, Y. H., Kim, S. J., Lee, Y., Kim, J. C., Park, S. E., Sim, K. I., Kim, J. H., Kim, Y. I., Kim, S. J., Jeong, H. Y., Lee, Y. H., Kim, S. G., Kim, Y. M., Hwang, J., & Jeong, S. Y. (2023). Coherent consolidation of trillions of nucleations for mono-atom step-level flat surfaces. Nature Communications, 14(1), Article 685. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36301-w

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abstract = "Constructing a mono-atom step-level ultra-flat material surface is challenging, especially for thin films, because it is prohibitively difficult for trillions of clusters to coherently merge. Even though a rough metal surface, as well as the scattering of carriers at grain boundaries, limits electron transport and obscures their intrinsic properties, the importance of the flat surface has not been emphasised sufficiently. In this study, we describe in detail the initial growth of copper thin films required for mono-atom step-level flat surfaces (MSFSs). Deposition using atomic sputtering epitaxy leads to the coherent merging of trillions of islands into a coplanar layer, eventually forming an MSFS, for which the key factor is suggested to be the individual deposition of single atoms. Theoretical calculations support that single sputtered atoms ensure the formation of highly aligned nanodroplets and help them to merge into a coplanar layer. The realisation of the ultra-flat surfaces is expected to greatly assist efforts to improve quantum behaviour by increasing the coherency of electrons.",

author = "Taewoo Ha and Seo, \{Yu Seong\} and Kim, \{Teun Teun\} and Bipin Lamichhane and Kim, \{Young Hoon\} and Kim, \{Su Jae\} and Yousil Lee and Kim, \{Jong Chan\} and Park, \{Sang Eon\} and Sim, \{Kyung Ik\} and Kim, \{Jae Hoon\} and Kim, \{Yong In\} and Kim, \{Seon Je\} and Jeong, \{Hu Young\} and Lee, \{Young Hee\} and Kim, \{Seong Gon\} and Kim, \{Young Min\} and Jungseek Hwang and Jeong, \{Se Young\}",

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AU - Kim, Jae Hoon

AU - Kim, Yong In

AU - Kim, Seon Je

AU - Jeong, Hu Young

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Coherent consolidation of trillions of nucleations for mono-atom step-level flat surfaces

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