Torsional Force Microscopy of Van der Waals Moirés and Atomic Lattices

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pendharkar, Mihir, Tran, Steven J., Zaborski Jr., Gregory, Finney, Joe, Sharpe, Aaron L., Kamat, Rupini V., Kalantre, Sandesh S., Hocking, Marisa, Bittner, Nathan J., Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Pittenger, Bede, Newcomb, Christina J., Kastner, Marc A., Mannix, Andrew J., Goldhaber-Gordon, David
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916167608696832
author Pendharkar, Mihir
Tran, Steven J.
Zaborski Jr., Gregory
Finney, Joe
Sharpe, Aaron L.
Kamat, Rupini V.
Kalantre, Sandesh S.
Hocking, Marisa
Bittner, Nathan J.
Watanabe, Kenji
Taniguchi, Takashi
Pittenger, Bede
Newcomb, Christina J.
Kastner, Marc A.
Mannix, Andrew J.
Goldhaber-Gordon, David
author_facet Pendharkar, Mihir
Tran, Steven J.
Zaborski Jr., Gregory
Finney, Joe
Sharpe, Aaron L.
Kamat, Rupini V.
Kalantre, Sandesh S.
Hocking, Marisa
Bittner, Nathan J.
Watanabe, Kenji
Taniguchi, Takashi
Pittenger, Bede
Newcomb, Christina J.
Kastner, Marc A.
Mannix, Andrew J.
Goldhaber-Gordon, David
contents In a stack of atomically-thin Van der Waals layers, introducing interlayer twist creates a moiré superlattice whose period is a function of twist angle. Changes in that twist angle of even hundredths of a degree can dramatically transform the system's electronic properties. Setting a precise and uniform twist angle for a stack remains difficult, hence determining that twist angle and mapping its spatial variation is very important. Techniques have emerged to do this by imaging the moiré, but most of these require sophisticated infrastructure, time-consuming sample preparation beyond stack synthesis, or both. In this work, we show that Torsional Force Microscopy (TFM), a scanning probe technique sensitive to dynamic friction, can reveal surface and shallow subsurface structure of Van der Waals stacks on multiple length scales: the moirés formed between bi-layers of graphene and between graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), and also the atomic crystal lattices of graphene and hBN. In TFM, torsional motion of an AFM cantilever is monitored as it is actively driven at a torsional resonance while a feedback loop maintains contact at a set force with the sample surface. TFM works at room temperature in air, with no need for an electrical bias between the tip and the sample, making it applicable to a wide array of samples. It should enable determination of precise structural information including twist angles and strain in moiré superlattices and crystallographic orientation of VdW flakes to support predictable moiré heterostructure fabrication.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2308_08814
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Torsional Force Microscopy of Van der Waals Moirés and Atomic Lattices
Pendharkar, Mihir
Tran, Steven J.
Zaborski Jr., Gregory
Finney, Joe
Sharpe, Aaron L.
Kamat, Rupini V.
Kalantre, Sandesh S.
Hocking, Marisa
Bittner, Nathan J.
Watanabe, Kenji
Taniguchi, Takashi
Pittenger, Bede
Newcomb, Christina J.
Kastner, Marc A.
Mannix, Andrew J.
Goldhaber-Gordon, David
Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Superconductivity
In a stack of atomically-thin Van der Waals layers, introducing interlayer twist creates a moiré superlattice whose period is a function of twist angle. Changes in that twist angle of even hundredths of a degree can dramatically transform the system's electronic properties. Setting a precise and uniform twist angle for a stack remains difficult, hence determining that twist angle and mapping its spatial variation is very important. Techniques have emerged to do this by imaging the moiré, but most of these require sophisticated infrastructure, time-consuming sample preparation beyond stack synthesis, or both. In this work, we show that Torsional Force Microscopy (TFM), a scanning probe technique sensitive to dynamic friction, can reveal surface and shallow subsurface structure of Van der Waals stacks on multiple length scales: the moirés formed between bi-layers of graphene and between graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), and also the atomic crystal lattices of graphene and hBN. In TFM, torsional motion of an AFM cantilever is monitored as it is actively driven at a torsional resonance while a feedback loop maintains contact at a set force with the sample surface. TFM works at room temperature in air, with no need for an electrical bias between the tip and the sample, making it applicable to a wide array of samples. It should enable determination of precise structural information including twist angles and strain in moiré superlattices and crystallographic orientation of VdW flakes to support predictable moiré heterostructure fabrication.
title Torsional Force Microscopy of Van der Waals Moirés and Atomic Lattices
topic Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Strongly Correlated Electrons
Superconductivity
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.08814