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Subject: Scanning tunneling microscopy × WGL Institute: IFWD ×

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Confined crystals of the smallest phase-change material
    (Washington, DC : American Chemical Society, 2013) Giusca, C.E.; Stolojan, V.; Sloan, J.; Börrnert, F.; Shiozawa, H.; Sader, K.; Rümmeli, M.H.; Büchner, B.; Silva, S.R.P.
    The demand for high-density memory in tandem with limitations imposed by the minimum feature size of current storage devices has created a need for new materials that can store information in smaller volumes than currently possible. Successfully employed in commercial optical data storage products, phase-change materials, that can reversibly and rapidly change from an amorphous phase to a crystalline phase when subject to heating or cooling have been identified for the development of the next generation electronic memories. There are limitations to the miniaturization of these devices due to current synthesis and theoretical considerations that place a lower limit of 2 nm on the minimum bit size, below which the material does not transform in the structural phase. We show here that by using carbon nanotubes of less than 2 nm diameter as templates phase-change nanowires confined to their smallest conceivable scale are obtained. Contrary to previous experimental evidence and theoretical expectations, the nanowires are found to crystallize at this scale and display amorphous-to-crystalline phase changes, fulfilling an important prerequisite of a memory element. We show evidence for the smallest phase-change material, extending thus the size limit to explore phase-change memory devices at extreme scales.
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    Suppression of nematicity by tensile strain in multilayer FeSe/SrTiO3 films
    (College Park, MD : APS, 2023) Lou, Rui; Suvorov, Oleksandr; Grafe, Hans-Joachim; Kuibarov, Andrii; Krivenkov, Maxim; Rader, Oliver; Büchner, Bernd; Borisenko, Sergey; Fedorov, Alexander
    The nematicity in multilayer FeSe/SrTiO3 films has been previously suggested to be enhanced with decreasing film thickness. Motivated by this, there have been many discussions about the competing relation between nematicity and superconductivity. However, the criterion for determining the nematicity strength in FeSe remains highly debated. The understanding of nematicity as well as its relation to superconductivity in FeSe films is therefore still controversial. Here, we fabricate multilayer FeSe/SrTiO3 films using molecular beam epitaxy and study the nematic properties by combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, Se77 nuclear magnetic resonance, and scanning tunneling microscopy experiments. We unambiguously demonstrate that, near the interface, the nematic order is suppressed by the SrTiO3-induced tensile strain; in the bulk region further away from the interface, the strength of nematicity recovers to the bulk value. Our results not only solve the recent controversy about the nematicity in multilayer FeSe films, but also offer valuable insights into the relationship between nematicity and superconductivity.
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    Visualization of localized perturbations on a (001) surface of the ferromagnetic semimetal EuB6
    (College Park, MD : American Physical Society, 2020) Rößler, S.; Jiao, L.; Seiro, S.; Rosa, P.F.S.; Fisk, Z.; Rößler, U.K.; Wirth, S.
    We performed scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy on a (001) surface of the ferromagnetic semimetal EuB6. Large-amplitude oscillations emanating from the elastic scattering of electrons by the surface impurities are observed in topography and in differential conductance maps. Fourier transform of the conductance maps embracing these regions indicate a holelike dispersion centered around the Γ point of the two-dimensional Brillouin zone. Using density functional theory slab calculations, we identify a spin-split surface state, which stems from the dangling pz orbitals of the apical boron atom. Hybridization with bulk electronic states leads to a resonance enhancement in certain regions around the Γ point, contributing to the remarkably strong real-space response around static point defects, which are observed in STM measurements.
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    Interplay of electric field and disorder in Dirac liquid silicene
    (Berlin ; Heidelberg : Springer, 2021) Craco, L.; Carara, S.S.; Leoni, S.
    Layered materials with buckled structure offer a promising route to explore distinct phases of quantum matter. Using GGA + DMFT we reveal the complex interplay between perpendicular electric field and site-diagonal disorder in the Dirac liquid electronic state of silicene. The electronic structure we derive is promising in the sense that it leads to results that might explain why out-of-plane electric field plus moderate disorder can generate marginal Dirac valleys consistent with scanning tunneling spectroscopy of silicene on Ag substrates.
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    Surface of underdoped YBa2Cu3O7- δ as revealed by STM/STS
    (London : BioMed Central, 2009) Urbanik, G.; Hänke, T.; Hess, C.; Büchner, B.; Ciszewski, A.; Hinkov, V.; Lin, C.T.; Keimer, B.
    We performed scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy on untwinned crystals of underdoped YBa2Cu3O7- δ at δ = 0.4. A comprehensive statistical analysis of our topographic data indicates a doping dependent cleaving behavior of this material. We find in particular that at δ = 0.4 the material primarily cleaves in multiples of one unit cell along the c-axis with a high corrugation of the topmost layer. Our data suggest that the low temperature cleaving mainly results in a disruption of the CuO chain layers involving a redistribution of the layer atoms onto the two cleaving planes. In a few instances, fractional step heights (in terms of the c-axis lattice constant) are observed as well. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals that such fractional steps connect surfaces which differ significantly in their tunneling conductance.