Local stiffness and work function variations of hexagonal boron nitride on Cu(111)

Combined scanning tunnelling and atomic force microscopy using a qPlus sensor enables the measurement of electronic and mechanic properties of two-dimensional materials at the nanoscale. In this work, we study hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), an atomically thin 2D layer, that is van der Waals-coupled to a Cu(111) surface. The system is of interest as a decoupling layer for functional 2D heterostructures due to the preservation of the h-BN bandgap and as a template for atomic and molecular adsorbates owing to its local electronic trapping potential due to the in-plane electric field. We obtain work function (Phi) variations on the h-BN/Cu(111) superstructure of the order of 100 meV using two independent methods, namely the shift of field emission resonances and the contact potential difference measured by Kelvin probe force microscopy. Using 3D force profiles of the same area we determine the relative stiffness of the Moire region allowing us to analyse both electronic and mechanical properties of the 2D layer simultaneously. We obtain a sheet stiffness of 9.4 +/- 0.9 N.m(-1), which is one order of magnitude higher than the one obtained for h-BN/Rh(111). Using constant force maps we are able to derive height profiles of h-BN/Cu(111) showing that the system has a corrugation of 0.6 +/- 0.2 angstrom, which helps to demystify the discussion around the flatness of the h-BN/Cu(111) substrate.

An electron acceptor molecule in a nanomesh: F(4)TCNQ on h-BN/Rh(111)

Huanyao Cun, Silvan Dino Marcos Roth

The adsorption of molecules on surfaces affects the surface dipole and thus changes in the work function may be expected. The effect in change of work function is particularly strong if charge between substrate and adsorbate is involved. Here we report the deposition of a strong electron acceptor molecule, tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane C12R4N4 (F(4)TCNQ) on a monolayer of hexagonal boron nitride nanomesh (h-BN on Rh(111)). The work function of the F(4)TCNQ/h-BN/Rh system increases upon increasing molecular coverage. The magnitude of the effect indicates electron transfer from the substrate to the F(4)TCNQ molecules. Density functional theory calculations confirm the work function shift and predict doubly-charged F(4)TCNQ(2-) in the nanomesh pores, where the h-BN is closest to the Rh substrate, and to have the largest binding energy there. The preferred adsorption in the pores is conjectured from a series of ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy data, where the a bands in the pores are first attenuated. Scanning tunneling microscopy measurements indicate that F(4)TCNQ molecules on the nanomesh are mobile at room temperature, as "hopping" between neighboring pores is observed.

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV2018

Scanning Tunneling Luminescence of Pentacene Nanocrystals

Alexander Kabakchiev

Organic semiconductors are promising materials for future electronic and electroluminescence applications. A detailed understanding of organic layers and nano-sized crystals down to single molecules can address fundamental questions of contacting organic semiconductors at the nanometer limit and obtaining luminescence from them. In this thesis, electroluminescence spectra from pentacene, a policyclic hydrocarbon (acene), are discussed. The luminescence is induced by the current from the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Pentacene is an organic semiconductor which gained a lot of attention in technology because of its electronic properties suitable for applications in thin film devices. Moreover, recent fundamental studies employed pentacene as a standard to demonstrate sub-molecular resolution by scanning probe techniques. This work reports the first observation of light emission from nanometer-sized pentacene crystals grown on an ultrathin insulating layer on noble metal surfaces. Different STM-techniques are combined to characterize the individual systems studied with respect to topography, crystal structure, electronic properties and work function changes. The initial step of the project was the implementation of an optical system for light collection from the tunnel-junction of a low-temperature STM. In the set-up, a novel approach based on the use of in situ adjustable lenses has been realized. Three lenses placed in the vicinity of the tip-apex allow light collection into three independent channels which can be used for versatile optical analysis. An important part in the characterization of the organic system was to clarify the interaction between adsorbed molecules and substrates. We investigated individual pentacene molecules on different ultrathin insulator-metal systems. With the STM tip in tunnel contact, the molecules are situated in a double barrier junction formed by the insulating layer on one side and the vacuum gap on the other side. The metal surface and the STM-tip form the electrodes. The electronic properties of pentacene in this configuration have been characterized. Insulator-metal-systems, which provide a good electronic decoupling for pentacene from the metal, have been chosen as substrates for the growth of pentacene nanocrystals. Using the sub-molecular resolution of the STM we resolved the structure of the top-layer of the pentacene nanocrystals and found that the crystal phase agrees with the pentacene bulk structure. Moreover, the comparison of charge injection barriers between individual molecules and nanocrystals of pentacene indicates a significant change of electronic properties after the formation of ordered structure from the individual building blocks. Optical spectroscopy of the emitted light reveals an excitonic emission from the nanocrystals, which is in very good agreement with photoemission spectra of macroscopic crystals. Although a highly localized current-injection by the STM tip is used for excitation, it can be concluded that the source of light emission is delocalized. In contrast to luminescence measurements reported for other organic materials in STM, the excitation is not localized on the individual molecule, into which a charge is injected by the STM-tip. Our study indicates the importance of inter-molecular coupling leading to a high mobility of the excited state which has to be considered in the framework of STM-induced luminescence. A further result is the observation of the Stark shift of pentacene luminescence, that has so far not been measured at large electric fields of the order of 1V/nm. The evaluation of the Stark shift provides information on dipole and polarizability change during the decay of an exciton. The measured large dipole change of the lowest singlet exciton in pentacene indicates a mixing of the Frenkel exciton (FE) with a small contribution of charge-transfer (CT). Finally, we developed a set-up for photon correlation measurements in the STM. The properties of photon statistics is a means which can unambiguously prove that the luminescence is due to a single-photon source, i.e. a light source which emits no more than one photon at a time. A typical example of such a source is the emission from a single molecule. We performed photon correlations measurements of the luminescence from pentacene and C60 nanocrystals. While the excitonic bulk emission of pentacene is not expected to represent a single photon emitter, we also did not observe anticorrelations in the case of C60 indicating the importance of the local environment in the STM-junction, e.g. the short distance to the metal electrodes.

EPFL2010

Extracting transport channel transmissions in scanning tunneling microscopy using superconducting excess current

Markus Etzkorn, Klaus Kern, Jacob Senkpiel

Transport through quantum coherent conductors, such as atomic junctions, is described by conduction channels. Information about the number of channels and their transmissions can be extracted from various sources, such as multiple Andreev reflections, dynamical Coulomb blockade, or shot noise. We complement this set of methods by introducing the superconducting excess current as a new tool to continuously extract the transport channel transmissions of an atomic scale junction in a scanning tunneling microscope. In conjunction with ab initio simulations, we employ this technique in atomic aluminum junctions to determine the influence of the structure adjacent to the contact atoms on the transport properties.

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2022

Scanning Tunneling Luminescence of Pentacene Nanocrystals

Alexander Kabakchiev

EPFL2010