Selective patterning of out-of-plane piezoelectricity in MoTe2 via focused ion beam

authors	Seol, D; Kim, S; Jang, WS; Jin, Y; Kang, S; Kim, S; Won, D; Lee, C; Kim, YM; Lee, J; Yang, H; Jeong, MS; Belianinov, A; Tselev, A; Somnath, S; Smith, CR; Ovchinnikova, OS; Balke, N; Kim, Y
nationality	International
journal	NANO ENERGY
author keywords	Transition-metal dichalcogenides; Out-of-plane piezoelectricity; Defect formation; Inversion symmetry breaking; Ion beam irradiation
keywords	ATOMIC-LAYER MOS2; CARBON CONTAMINATION; TRANSPORT-PROPERTIES; FORCE MICROSCOPY; MONOLAYER MOS2; TRANSITION; SUBSURFACE; ENERGY; DAMAGE
abstract	Two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have a strain-sensitive nature and can only exhibit in plane piezoelectricity, owing to their in-plane inversion symmetry breaking, which limits their practical applications for vertical stimulations. In this study, we demonstrated the capability of focused ion beams to create out of-plane piezoelectricity on multi-layered MoTe2. We utilized a focused helium ion beam to selectively pattern the out-of-plane piezoelectricity via defect engineering in a layered MoTe2 flake. The generated out-of-plane piezoelectricity in the desired area was quantitatively examined using atomic force microscopy, and ion beam irradiation-induced defect formation that gave rise to inversion symmetry breaking was confirmed. These results indicated that the out-of-plane piezoelectricity can be selectively patterned through a focused helium ion beam, and it is expected that this approach can also be applied to other classes of TMDs and can expand the application fields of TMD-based devices.
publisher	ELSEVIER
issn	2211-2855
isbn	2211-3282
year published	2021
volume	79
digital object identifier (doi)	10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.105451
web of science category	9
subject category	Chemistry, Physical; Nanoscience & Nanotechnology; Materials Science, Multidisciplinary; Physics, Applied
unique article identifier	WOS:000620324700005