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    Misorientation-angle-dependent electrical transport across molybdenum disulfide grain boundaries
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2016) Ly, Thuc Hue; Perello, David J.; Zhao, Jiong; Deng, Qingming; Kim, Hyun; Han, Gang Hee; Chae, Sang Hoon; Jeong, Hye Yun; Lee, Young Hee
    Grain boundaries in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides have unique atomic defect structures and band dispersion relations that depend on the inter-domain misorientation angle. Here, we explore misorientation angle-dependent electrical transport at grain boundaries in monolayer MoS2 by correlating the atomic defect structures of measured devices analysed with transmission electron microscopy and first-principles calculations. Transmission electron microscopy indicates that grain boundaries are primarily composed of 5–7 dislocation cores with periodicity and additional complex defects formed at high angles, obeying the classical low-angle theory for angles <22°. The inter-domain mobility is minimized for angles <9° and increases nonlinearly by two orders of magnitude before saturating at ∼16 cm2 V−1 s−1 around misorientation angle≈20°. This trend is explained via grain-boundary electrostatic barriers estimated from density functional calculations and experimental tunnelling barrier heights, which are ≈0.5 eV at low angles and ≈0.15 eV at high angles (≥20°).
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    Combined structural analysis and cathodoluminescence investigations of single Pr3+-doped Ca2Nb3O10 nanosheets
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2023) Changizi, Rasa; Zaefferer, Stefan; Ziegler, Christian; Romaka, Vitaliy; Lotsch, Bettina V.; Scheu, Christina
    Due to the novel properties of both 2D materials and rare-earth elements, developing 2D rare-earth nanomaterials has a growing interest in research. To produce the most efficient rare-earth nanosheets, it is essential to find out the correlation between chemical composition, atomic structure and luminescent properties of individual sheets. In this study, 2D nanosheets exfoliated from Pr3+-doped KCa2Nb3O10 particles with different Pr concentrations were investigated. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis indicates that the nanosheets contain Ca, Nb and O and a varying Pr content between 0.9 and 1.8 at%. K was completely removed after exfoliation. The crystal structure is monoclinic as in the bulk. The thinnest nanosheets are 3 nm corresponding to one triple perovskite-type layer with Nb on the B sites and Ca on the A sites, surrounded by charge compensating TBA+ molecules. Thicker nanosheets of 12 nm thickness (and above) were observed too by transmission electron microscopy with the same chemical composition. This indicates that several perovskite-type triple layers remain stacked similar to the bulk. Luminescent properties of individual 2D nanosheets were studied using a cathodoluminescence spectrometer revealing additional transitions in the visible region in comparison to the spectra of different bulk phases.
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    Precursor-surface interactions revealed during plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of metal oxide thin films by in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2020) Kilic, Ufuk; Mock, Alyssa; Sekora, Derek; Gilbert, Simeon; Valloppilly, Shah; Melendez, Giselle; Ianno, Natale; Langell, Marjorie; Schubert, Eva; Schubert, Mathias
    We find that a five-phase (substrate, mixed native oxide and roughness interface layer, metal oxide thin film layer, surface ligand layer, ambient) model with two-dynamic (metal oxide thin film layer thickness and surface ligand layer void fraction) parameters (dynamic dual box model) is sufficient to explain in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry data measured within and across multiple cycles during plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of metal oxide thin films. We demonstrate our dynamic dual box model for analysis of in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry data in the photon energy range of 0.7–3.4 eV measured with time resolution of few seconds over large numbers of cycles during the growth of titanium oxide (TiO2) and tungsten oxide (WO3) thin films, as examples. We observe cyclic surface roughening with fast kinetics and subsequent roughness reduction with slow kinetics, upon cyclic exposure to precursor materials, leading to oscillations of the metal thin film thickness with small but positive growth per cycle. We explain the cyclic surface roughening by precursor-surface interactions leading to defect creation, and subsequent surface restructuring. Atomic force microscopic images before and after growth, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction investigations confirm structural and chemical properties of our thin films. Our proposed dynamic dual box model may be generally applicable to monitor and control metal oxide growth in atomic layer deposition, and we include data for SiO2 and Al2O3 as further examples.