Interplay of Defects and the Charge Density Wave State in Hf-Doped ZrTe₃

2025/12/19 by Ghilles Ainouche, Resmi Sudheer, Ainouche, Ghilles +15
Materials Science · #Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Organic and Molecular Conductors Research #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.17867

openalex publication_date 2025/12/19 · openalex created_date 2025/12/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We carry out temperature-dependent scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of the charge density wave (CDW) compound ZrTe₃ which is intentionally doped with Hf. Previous bulk studies tie Hf doping to an enhancement of the CDW transition temperature (T_CDW). In our work, by combining STM measurements with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we observe and identify multiple defects in Zr_0.95Hf_0.05Te₃. Surprisingly, instead of finding clear structural or electronic signatures associated with Hf dopants, we determine the origin of the observed defects are consistent with Te and Zr vacancies. Further, our temperature dependent STM measurements allow us to examine CDW pinning to both types of observed defects below and above T_CDW.

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