Observation of Single-Electron Transport and Charging on Individual Point Defects in Atomically Thin WSe2

Rui Zhang; Genevieve Clark; Xiaodong Xu; Pierre T. Darancet; Jeffrey R. Guest

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c02791

Observation of Single-Electron Transport and Charging on Individual Point Defects in Atomically Thin WSe₂

Rui Zhang^*, Genevieve Clark, Xiaodong Xu, Pierre T. Darancet, Jeffrey R. Guest^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

MRC - Materials Research Center

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

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Defects significantly impact the properties of 2D semiconductors, providing in-gap quantum states that can serve as a natural platform for single-electron operations, localization sites for excitons to serve as single-photon sources, and potentially quantum spin memories. To date, however, a microscopic observation of such a single-electron transport (SET) behavior has been rarely reported on single defects of 2D semiconductors. Here, we report a SET and charge-state transition on individual point-defect states buried in the bilayer WSe₂using scanning tunneling microscopy. SET characteristics of their states is evidenced by both the Coulomb staircase and the saturation behavior of the transport current, consistent with the SET model. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, through the local field of a scanning tunneling microscope tip, it is possible to successively charge the defects by single electrons, suggested by both the ring structures and charging peaks in dI/dVmeasurements. Our results provide new insights into the quantum nature of these defect-bound states, as well as the possibility of using their single-electron behavior and response for applications in quantum information and local-field sensing.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	14056-14064
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Volume	125
Issue number	25
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c02791
State	Published - Jul 1 2021

Funding

Use of the Center for Nanoscale Materials, an Office of Science user facility, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, and Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The work at Argonne National Laboratory is supported by the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences (SISGR grant DE-FG02-09ER16109). The work at the University of Washington is supported by DoE BES DE-SC0018171. R.Z. also acknowledges the financial support from National Science Foundation of China (grant no. 11874067) and the start-up funding from Anhui University.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
General Energy
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Surfaces, Coatings and Films

Access to Document

10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c02791

Cite this

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title = "Observation of Single-Electron Transport and Charging on Individual Point Defects in Atomically Thin WSe2",

abstract = "Defects significantly impact the properties of 2D semiconductors, providing in-gap quantum states that can serve as a natural platform for single-electron operations, localization sites for excitons to serve as single-photon sources, and potentially quantum spin memories. To date, however, a microscopic observation of such a single-electron transport (SET) behavior has been rarely reported on single defects of 2D semiconductors. Here, we report a SET and charge-state transition on individual point-defect states buried in the bilayer WSe2using scanning tunneling microscopy. SET characteristics of their states is evidenced by both the Coulomb staircase and the saturation behavior of the transport current, consistent with the SET model. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, through the local field of a scanning tunneling microscope tip, it is possible to successively charge the defects by single electrons, suggested by both the ring structures and charging peaks in dI/dVmeasurements. Our results provide new insights into the quantum nature of these defect-bound states, as well as the possibility of using their single-electron behavior and response for applications in quantum information and local-field sensing.",

author = "Rui Zhang and Genevieve Clark and Xiaodong Xu and Darancet, \{Pierre T.\} and Guest, \{Jeffrey R.\}",

note = "Funding Information: Use of the Center for Nanoscale Materials, an Office of Science user facility, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, and Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The work at Argonne National Laboratory is supported by the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences (SISGR grant DE-FG02-09ER16109). The work at the University of Washington is supported by DoE BES DE-SC0018171. R.Z. also acknowledges the financial support from National Science Foundation of China (grant no. 11874067) and the start-up funding from Anhui University. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory. Published by American Chemical Society",

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AU - Zhang, Rui

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AU - Xu, Xiaodong

AU - Darancet, Pierre T.

AU - Guest, Jeffrey R.

N1 - Funding Information: Use of the Center for Nanoscale Materials, an Office of Science user facility, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, and Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The work at Argonne National Laboratory is supported by the Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences (SISGR grant DE-FG02-09ER16109). The work at the University of Washington is supported by DoE BES DE-SC0018171. R.Z. also acknowledges the financial support from National Science Foundation of China (grant no. 11874067) and the start-up funding from Anhui University. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory. Published by American Chemical Society

PY - 2021/7/1

Y1 - 2021/7/1

N2 - Defects significantly impact the properties of 2D semiconductors, providing in-gap quantum states that can serve as a natural platform for single-electron operations, localization sites for excitons to serve as single-photon sources, and potentially quantum spin memories. To date, however, a microscopic observation of such a single-electron transport (SET) behavior has been rarely reported on single defects of 2D semiconductors. Here, we report a SET and charge-state transition on individual point-defect states buried in the bilayer WSe2using scanning tunneling microscopy. SET characteristics of their states is evidenced by both the Coulomb staircase and the saturation behavior of the transport current, consistent with the SET model. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, through the local field of a scanning tunneling microscope tip, it is possible to successively charge the defects by single electrons, suggested by both the ring structures and charging peaks in dI/dVmeasurements. Our results provide new insights into the quantum nature of these defect-bound states, as well as the possibility of using their single-electron behavior and response for applications in quantum information and local-field sensing.

AB - Defects significantly impact the properties of 2D semiconductors, providing in-gap quantum states that can serve as a natural platform for single-electron operations, localization sites for excitons to serve as single-photon sources, and potentially quantum spin memories. To date, however, a microscopic observation of such a single-electron transport (SET) behavior has been rarely reported on single defects of 2D semiconductors. Here, we report a SET and charge-state transition on individual point-defect states buried in the bilayer WSe2using scanning tunneling microscopy. SET characteristics of their states is evidenced by both the Coulomb staircase and the saturation behavior of the transport current, consistent with the SET model. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, through the local field of a scanning tunneling microscope tip, it is possible to successively charge the defects by single electrons, suggested by both the ring structures and charging peaks in dI/dVmeasurements. Our results provide new insights into the quantum nature of these defect-bound states, as well as the possibility of using their single-electron behavior and response for applications in quantum information and local-field sensing.

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