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Electrical Breakdown of Suspended Mono- and Few-Layer Tungsten Disulfide via Sulfur Depletion Identified by in Situ Atomic Imaging
journal contribution
posted on 2017-08-22, 00:00 authored by Ye Fan, Alex W. Robertson, Yingqiu Zhou, Qu Chen, Xiaowei Zhang, Nigel D. Browning, Haimei Zheng, Mark H. Rümmeli, Jamie H. WarnerThe
high-bias and breakdown behavior of suspended mono- and few-layer
WS2 was explored by in situ aberration-corrected
transmission electron microscopy. The suspended WS2 devices
were found to undergo irreversible breakdown at sufficiently high
biases due to vaporization of the WS2. Simultaneous to
the removal of WS2 was the accompanying formation of few-layer
graphene decorated with W and WS2 nanoparticles, with the
carbon source attributed to organic residues present on the WS2 surface. The breakdown of few-layer WS2 resulted
in the formation of faceted S-depleted WS2 tendrils along
the vaporization boundary, which were found to exhibit lattice contraction
indicative of S depletion, alongside pure W phases incorporated into
the structure, with the interfaces imaged at atomic resolution. The
combination of observing the graphitization of the amorphous carbon
surface residue, W nanoparticles, and S-depleted WS2 phases
following the high-bias WS2 disintegration all indicate
a thermal Joule heating breakdown mechanism over an avalanche process,
with WS2 destruction promoted by preferential S emission.
The observation of graphene formation and the role the thin amorphous
carbon layer has in the prebreakdown behavior of the device demonstrate
the importance of employing encapsulated heterostructure device architectures
that exclude residues.
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WS 2WS 2 destructioncarbon surface residuefew-layer WS 2WS 2 nanoparticlesJoule heating breakdown mechanismhigh-bias WS 2 disintegrationWS 2 surfaceFew-Layer Tungsten Disulfideexhibit lattice contractionSitu Atomic Imagingaberration-corrected transmission electron microscopyS-depleted WS 2 phasesWS 2 devicesencapsulated heterostructure device architecturesSulfur Depletion Identifiedfaceted S-depleted WS 2 tendrils
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