Mark Thomas Edmonds

Creating a Stable Oxide at the Surface of Black Phosphorus.

The stability of the surface of in situ cleaved black phosphorus crystals upon exposure to atmosphere is investigated with synchrotron-based photoelectron spectroscopy. After 2 days atmosphere exposure a stable subnanometer layer of primarily P2O5 forms at the surface. The work function increases by 0.1 eV from 3.9 eV for as-cleaved black phosphorus to 4.0 eV after formation of the 0.4 nm thick oxide, with phosphorus core levels shifting by <0.1 eV. The results indicate minimal charge transfer, suggesting that the oxide layer is suitable for passivation or as an interface layer for further dielectric deposition.

A graphene field-effect transistor as a molecule-specific probe of DNA nucleobases

Fast and reliable DNA sequencing is a long-standing target in biomedical research. Recent advances in graphene-based electrical sensors have demonstrated their unprecedented sensitivity to adsorbed molecules, which holds great promise for label-free DNA sequencing technology. To date, the proposed sequencing approaches rely on the ability of graphene electric devices to probe molecular-specific interactions with a graphene surface. Here we experimentally demonstrate the use of graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) as probes of the presence of a layer of individual DNA nucleobases adsorbed on the graphene surface. We show that GFETs are able to measure distinct coverage-dependent conductance signatures upon adsorption of the four different DNA nucleobases; a result that can be attributed to the formation of an interface dipole field. Comparison between experimental GFET results and synchrotron-based material analysis allowed prediction of the ultimate device sensitivity, and assessment of the feasibility of single nucleobase sensing with graphene.

Surface transfer doping of hydrogen-terminated diamond by C60F48: Energy level scheme and doping efficiency

Surface sensitive C1s core level photoelectron spectroscopy was used to examine the electronic properties of C(60)F(48) molecules on the C(100):H surface. An upward band bending of 0.74 eV in response to surface transfer doping by fluorofullerene molecules is measured. Two distinct molecular charge states of C(60)F(48) are identified and their relative concentration determined as a function of coverage. One corresponds to ionized molecules that participate in surface charge transfer and the other to neutral molecules that do not. The position of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of neutral C(60)F(48) which is the relevant acceptor level for transfer doping lies initially 0.6 eV below the valence band maximum and shifts upwards in the course of transfer doping by up to 0.43 eV due to a doping induced surface dipole. This upward shift in conjunction with the band bending determines the occupation of the acceptor level and limits the ultimately achievable hole concentration with C(60)F(48) as a surface acceptor to values close to 10(13) cm(-2) as reported in the literature.

Profound Effect of Substrate Hydroxylation and Hydration on Electronic and Optical Properties of Monolayer MoS2

Atomic force microscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy, and scanning photoluminescence spectroscopy image the progressive postgrowth hydroxylation and hydration of atomically flat Al2O3(0001) under monolayer MoS2, manifested in large work function shifts (100 mV) due to charge transfer (>10(13) cm(-2)) from the substrate and changes in PL intensity, energy, and peak width. In contrast, trapped water between exfoliated graphene and Al2O3(0001) causes surface potential and doping changes one and two orders of magnitude smaller, respectively, and MoS2 grown on hydrophobic hexagonal boron nitride is unaffected by water exposure.

Tuning the charge carriers in epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) from electron to hole via molecular doping with C60F48

We demonstrate that the intrinsic electron doping of monolayer epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) can be tuned in a controlled fashion to holes via molecular doping with the fluorinated fullerene C60F48. In situ angle-resolved photoemission is used to measure an upward shift of (0.6 ± 0.05) eV in the Dirac point from −0.43 eV to +0.17 eV relative to the Fermi level. The carrier density is observed to change from n ∼ (1 × 1013 ± 0.1 × 1013) cm−2 to p ∼ (2 × 1012 ± 1 × 1012) cm−2. We introduce a doping model employing Fermi-Dirac statistics which explicitly takes temperature and the highly correlated nature of molecular orbitals into account. The model describes the observed doping behaviour in our experiment and readily explains why net p-type doping was not achieved in a previous study [Coletti et al., Phys. Rev. B 81, 8 (2010)] which used tetrafluorotetra-cyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ).

Air-Stable Electron Depletion of Bi2Se3 Using Molybdenum Trioxide into the Topological Regime

We perform high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy on in situ cleaved topological insulator Bi2Se3 single crystals and in situ transport measurements on Bi2Se3 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We demonstrate efficient electron depletion of Bi2Se3 via vacuum deposition of molecular MoO3, lowering the surface Fermi energy to within ∼100 meV of the Dirac point, well into the topological regime. A 100 nm MoO3 film provides an air-stable doping and passivation layer.

Surface band bending and electron affinity as a function of hole accumulation density in surface conducting diamond

Simultaneous measurements of work function (ϕ) and C 1s core level shift were employed to determine the change in electron affinity (χ) and band bending as a function of hole sheet density on H-terminated diamond for atmospheric and fullerene (C60F48) induced surface conductivity. Contrary to earlier investigations, it is shown that changes in work function do not reflect variations in the position of the surface Fermi level in response to surface transfer doping. Instead, with a transition from −0.96 to −0.33 eV, χ accounts for a significant amount of the change in ϕ for hole densities between 5×108 and 4×1013 cm−2.

Electronic Properties of High-Quality Epitaxial Topological Dirac Semimetal Thin Films

Topological Dirac semimetals (TDS) are three-dimensional analogues of graphene, with linear electronic dispersions in three dimensions. Nanoscale confinement of TDSs in thin films is a necessary step toward observing the conventional-to-topological quantum phase transition (QPT) with increasing film thickness, gated devices for electric-field control of topological states, and devices with surface-state-dominated transport phenomena. Thin films can also be interfaced with superconductors (realizing a host for Majorana Fermions) or ferromagnets (realizing Weyl Fermions or T-broken topological states). Here we report structural and electrical characterization of large-area epitaxial thin films of TDS Na3Bi on single crystal Al2O3[0001] substrates. Charge carrier mobilities exceeding 6,000 cm(2)/(V s) and carrier densities below 1 × 10(18) cm(-3) are comparable to the best single crystal values. Perpendicular magnetoresistance at low field shows the perfect weak antilocalization behavior expected for Dirac Fermions in the absence of intervalley scattering. At higher fields up to 0.5 T anomalously large quadratic magnetoresistance is observed, indicating that some aspects of the low field magnetotransport (μB < 1) in this TDS are yet to be explained.

Surface transfer doping of diamond with a molecular heterojunction

Surface conductivity and C1s core level measurements were employed to show that surface transfer doping of hydrogen-terminated diamond C(100) can be achieved with a molecular heterojunction formed with C60F48 and an intralayer of zinc-tetraphenylporphyrin. Measurement of the shift in the diamond Fermi energy shows that the zinc-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) layer modifies the C60F48–diamond interaction, modulating the extent of charge transfer between the diamond and the fluorofullerene. In contrast to the case of C60F48 acceptors, the presence of a ZnTPP layer prevents the formation of air-induced surface conductivity, showing that the intralayer acts to selectively separate these two doping channels.

Thickness and growth-condition dependence of in-situ mobility and carrier density of epitaxial thin-film Bi2Se3

Bismuth selenide Bi2Se3 was grown by molecular beam epitaxy, while carrier density and mobility were measured directly in situ as a function of film thickness. Carrier density shows high interface n-doping (1.5 × 1013 cm−2) at the onset of film conduction and bulk dopant density of ∼5 × 1011 cm−2 per quintuple-layer unit, roughly independent of growth temperature profile. Mobility depends more strongly on the growth temperature and is related to the crystalline quality of the samples quantified by ex-situ atomic force microscopy measurements. These results indicate that Bi2Se3 as prepared by widely employed parameters is n-doped before exposure to atmosphere, the doping is largely interfacial in origin, and dopants are not the limiting disorder in present Bi2Se3 films.