Strain Solitons in an Epitaxially Strained van der Waals-like Material

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Dong, Jason T., Inbar, Hadass S., Dempsey, Connor P., Engel, Aaron N., Palmstrøm, Christopher J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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_version_ 1866914727256391680
author Dong, Jason T.
Inbar, Hadass S.
Dempsey, Connor P.
Engel, Aaron N.
Palmstrøm, Christopher J.
author_facet Dong, Jason T.
Inbar, Hadass S.
Dempsey, Connor P.
Engel, Aaron N.
Palmstrøm, Christopher J.
contents Strain solitons are quasi-dislocations that form in van der Waals materials to relieve the energy associated with lattice or rotational mismatch in the crystal. Novel and unusual electronic properties of strain solitons have been both predicted and observed. To date, strain solitons have only been observed in exfoliated crystals or mechanically strained bulk crystals. The lack of a scalable approach towards the generation of strain solitons poses a significant challenge in the study of and use of the properties of strain solitons. Here we report the formation of strain solitons with epitaxial growth of bismuth on an InSb (111)B substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The morphology of the strain solitons for films of varying thickness is characterized with scanning tunneling microscopy and the local strain state is determined from the analysis of atomic resolution images. Bending in the solitons is attributed due to interactions with the interface, and large angle bending is associated with edge dislocations. Our results enable the scalable generation of strain solitons.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_13080
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Strain Solitons in an Epitaxially Strained van der Waals-like Material
Dong, Jason T.
Inbar, Hadass S.
Dempsey, Connor P.
Engel, Aaron N.
Palmstrøm, Christopher J.
Materials Science
Strain solitons are quasi-dislocations that form in van der Waals materials to relieve the energy associated with lattice or rotational mismatch in the crystal. Novel and unusual electronic properties of strain solitons have been both predicted and observed. To date, strain solitons have only been observed in exfoliated crystals or mechanically strained bulk crystals. The lack of a scalable approach towards the generation of strain solitons poses a significant challenge in the study of and use of the properties of strain solitons. Here we report the formation of strain solitons with epitaxial growth of bismuth on an InSb (111)B substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The morphology of the strain solitons for films of varying thickness is characterized with scanning tunneling microscopy and the local strain state is determined from the analysis of atomic resolution images. Bending in the solitons is attributed due to interactions with the interface, and large angle bending is associated with edge dislocations. Our results enable the scalable generation of strain solitons.
title Strain Solitons in an Epitaxially Strained van der Waals-like Material
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.13080