2022/01/29 by Anna Rupp, Jonas Göser, Rupp, Anna +9
Materials Science · #2D Materials and Applications #Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques #FOS: Physical sciences #Machine Learning in Materials Science #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2201.12545
openalex publication_date 2022/01/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report the implementation of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy for layered semiconductors in the form of atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides. The technique is based on a scanning electron microscope equipped with a silicon drift detector for energy dispersive X-ray analysis. By optimizing operational parameters in numerical simulations and experiments, we achieve layer-resolving sensitivity for few-layer crystals down to the monolayer limit and demonstrate elemental composition profiling in vertical and lateral heterobilayers of transition metal dichalcogenides. The technique can be straight-forwardly applied to other layered two-dimensional materials and van der Waals heterostructures, thus expanding the experimental toolbox for quantitative characterization of layer number, atomic composition, or alloy gradients for atomically thin materials and devices.