Thermal drift induced artifacts in AFM atomic lattice images

Two-dimensional materials are emerging as next-generation ultra-thin semiconductor device materials. The electronic band structure of these materials is strongly perturbed by mechanical strain. Therefore, many studies on the strain engineering of two-dimensional materials have been conducted recently. The aim of these studies is to control the electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional materials. To determine the effect of strain, it is necessary to investigate the atomic lattice structure accurately. Various scanning force microscopy (SFM) techniques have been used to observe these two-dimensional crystal lattices. In this study, we show that artifacts due to thermal drift in AFM measurements can impede accurate structural interpretation related to strain. In other words, distorted images can lead to incorrect scientific conclusions on the critical strain issues in these atomically thin two-dimensional materials.