Electronic Growth Modes in Metal Dichalgogenide Interfacees

The transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) ara a family of materials of great interest for chemical tunability and novel electronic properties. The TMDC surface terminates at a van der Waals gap, making a stable, highly non-interacting growth surface. We have found that this lack of interaction can induce a variety of metals to spontaneously organize into films or nanostructures with strongly preferred heights upon the TMDC surface. The terraces of these features is atomically flat and highly oriented. Their structure can be predicted using only the electronic structure of the metal. This electronic growth differs from previously reported magic height systems in that high temperature annealing enhances growth properties, implying true equilibrium conditions. This process could be extended to a great number of highly 2D materials and open new avenues of research for self-assembled nanostructures with various electronic or spin-based confinement.