Characterization of atomically thin layers of 1T-TaS$_{2}$

1T-TaS$_{2}$ is a transition metal dichalcogenide that shows a wealth of correlated phenomena: it is metallic at higher temperatures, it has four temperature-dependent charge density wave phases with distinct structures [1]; at low temperatures it shows Mott insulator behavior and it becomes superconducting under pressure [2,3]. Due to the weak van der Waals bonding between its layers we show that it is possible, by mechanical exfoliation, to obtain atomically thin 1T-TaS$_{2}$ crystals. In this talk we address the question of how the transition from bulk to few layers affects the different phases of this material. Specifically, we discuss resistivity measurements for flakes of 1T-TaS$_{2}$ exfoliated onto the surface of Si/SiO$_{2}$ complemented by temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy characterization. \\[4pt] [1] Thomson, R. E. et al. Phys. Rev. B 49,16899-16916 (1994).\\[0pt] [2] Fazekas, P. and Tosatti, E. Phil. Mag. B 39, 229-244 (1979).\\[0pt] [3] Sipos, B. et al. Nature Materials 7,960-965 (2008).