In April 2016 Manchester eScholar was replaced by the University of Manchester’s new Research Information Management System, Pure. In the autumn the University’s research outputs will be available to search and browse via a new Research Portal. Until then the University’s full publication record can be accessed via a temporary portal and the old eScholar content is available to search and browse via this archive.

Van der Waals Heterostructures: Fabrication, Mechanical and Electronic Properties

Khestanova, Ekaterina

[Thesis]. Manchester, UK: The University of Manchester; 2017.

Access to files

Abstract

The fast progress in the exploration of 2D materials such as graphene became possible due to development of fabrication techniques that allowed these materials to be protected from e.g. undesirable doping and gave rise to new functionalities realized within van der Waals heterostructures. Attracted by van der Waals interaction the constituent layers of such heterostructures preserve their exceptional electronic quality and for example in graphene allow for high electron mobility to be achieved. However, the studies of atomically thin layers such as NbSe2 that exhibit metallic behavior have been impeded by their reactivity and hence oxidation during exposure to ambient or oxidizing agents such as solvents. In this thesis, the existing heterostructure assembly technique was improved by the introduction of exfoliation and re-stacking by a fully motorized system placed in an inert atmosphere. This approach allowed us to overcome the problem of environmental degradation and create Hall bars and planar tunnel junctions from atomically thin superconducting NbSe2. Furthermore, this versatile approach allowed us to study the thickness dependence of the normal and superconducting state transport properties of NbSe2, uncovering the reduction of the superconducting energy gap and transition temperature in the thinnest samples. On the other hand, 2D materials being just 1-3 atoms thick represent an ultimate example of a membrane – thin but laterally extended object. Consisting of such atomically thin membranes the van der Waals heterostructures can be used for purposes other than the studies of electronic transport. In this work, ubiquitous bubbles occurring during van der Waals heterostructure assembly are employed as a tool to explore 2D materials’ mechanical properties and mutual adhesion. This allowed us to measure Young’s modulus of graphene and other 2D materials under 1-2% strain and deduce the internal pressure that can reach up to 1 GPa in sub-nanometer size bubbles.

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Form of thesis:
Type of submission:
Degree type:
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree programme:
PhD Physics (48 month)
Publication date:
Location:
Manchester, UK
Total pages:
160
Abstract:
The fast progress in the exploration of 2D materials such as graphene became possible due to development of fabrication techniques that allowed these materials to be protected from e.g. undesirable doping and gave rise to new functionalities realized within van der Waals heterostructures. Attracted by van der Waals interaction the constituent layers of such heterostructures preserve their exceptional electronic quality and for example in graphene allow for high electron mobility to be achieved. However, the studies of atomically thin layers such as NbSe2 that exhibit metallic behavior have been impeded by their reactivity and hence oxidation during exposure to ambient or oxidizing agents such as solvents. In this thesis, the existing heterostructure assembly technique was improved by the introduction of exfoliation and re-stacking by a fully motorized system placed in an inert atmosphere. This approach allowed us to overcome the problem of environmental degradation and create Hall bars and planar tunnel junctions from atomically thin superconducting NbSe2. Furthermore, this versatile approach allowed us to study the thickness dependence of the normal and superconducting state transport properties of NbSe2, uncovering the reduction of the superconducting energy gap and transition temperature in the thinnest samples. On the other hand, 2D materials being just 1-3 atoms thick represent an ultimate example of a membrane – thin but laterally extended object. Consisting of such atomically thin membranes the van der Waals heterostructures can be used for purposes other than the studies of electronic transport. In this work, ubiquitous bubbles occurring during van der Waals heterostructure assembly are employed as a tool to explore 2D materials’ mechanical properties and mutual adhesion. This allowed us to measure Young’s modulus of graphene and other 2D materials under 1-2% strain and deduce the internal pressure that can reach up to 1 GPa in sub-nanometer size bubbles.
Thesis main supervisor(s):
Thesis co-supervisor(s):
Language:
en

Institutional metadata

University researcher(s):

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:312532
Created by:
Khestanova, Ekaterina
Created:
12th December, 2017, 12:48:11
Last modified by:
Khestanova, Ekaterina
Last modified:
3rd January, 2019, 13:52:20

Can we help?

The library chat service will be available from 11am-3pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). You can also email your enquiry to us.