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Molecular Beam Epitaxy of 2H-TaS$_2$ few-layers on GaN(0001)

Materials Science 2025-10-23 v2

Abstract

2H-TaS2_2 few layers have been grown epitaxially onto GaN(0001). A high substrate growth temperature of 825^{\circ}C induces best structural properties of the overlayer, as revealed by in-situ electron diffraction (RHEED and LEED). The 2D-overlayer grows unstrained right after deposition of a monolayer. However, evidence of pits at the interface is provided by scanning transmission electron microscopy, most probably due to GaN thermal decomposition at the high growth temperature. In-situ x-ray photoemission spectroscopy shows core level shifts that are consistently related to electron transfer from the n-GaN(0001) to the 2H-TaS2_2 epitaxial layer as well as the formation of a high concentration of nitrogen vacancies close to the interface. Further, no chemical reaction at the interface between the substrate and the grown TaS2_2 overlayer is deduced from XPS, which corroborates the possibility of integration of 2D 2H-TaS2_2 with an important 3D semiconducting material like GaN.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.21537,
  title  = {Molecular Beam Epitaxy of 2H-TaS$_2$ few-layers on GaN(0001)},
  author = {Constantin Hilbrunner and Tobias Meyer and Joerg Malindretos and Angela Rizzi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.21537},
  year   = {2025}
}