NCAFM2023 Programme Booklet

Friday 1140 - 1200

EPITAXIAL MONOLAYER TRANSITION METAL DIHALIDES GROWN ON METAL SUBSTRATES

A. Kimouche 1* , D. Rothhardt 1 , Z. Ahmed 2,3 , H. Liu 2,3 , R. Hoffmann-Vogel 1 , H.J. Hug 2,3

1 Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany 2 Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland 3 Department of Physics, University of Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland

Email: amina.kimouche@uni-potsdam.de

Atomically thin two dimensional crystals posses a strong in-plane covalent bonding, while the out-of-plane van der Waals interaction between layers is weak. Due to their reduced symmetry, they demonstrate an array of remarkable optical, electronic and magnetic properties, such as superconductivity and magnetism. There have been notable advancements in the synthesis of 2D materials lately, with specific ground states and/or functionality, opened an accessible route to study these phenomena in the ultimate 2D limit. A new class of 2D materials called transition metal dihalides have been grown. These are characterised by a magnetic ground state even in the monolayer limit, thus provide a fertile platform for exploring low-dimensional magnetism and may also be applied for future spintronic devices. However, their experimental investigation is less advanced, notably understanding their initial stage of epitaxial growth on metal substrates requires an accurate control of the growth parameters. In this work, we employ frequency-modulated scanning force microscopy in the non-contact mode, combined with Kelvin probe microscopy and scanning tunnelling microscopy, to examine various phases and layer thicknesses down to the monolayer limit.

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