Kinkless Electronic Junction along 1D Electronic Channel Embedded in a Van Der Waals Layer

Abstract

Here, the formation of type-I and type-II electronic junctions with or without any structural discontinuity along a well-defined 1 nm-wide 1D electronic channel within a van der Waals layer is reported. Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy techniques are employed to investigate the atomic and electronic structure along peculiar domain walls formed on the charge-density-wave phase of 1T-TaS2. Distinct kinds of abrupt electronic junctions with discontinuities of the band gap along the domain walls are found, some of which even do not have any structural kinks and defects. Density-functional calculations reveal a novel mechanism of the electronic junction formation; they are formed by a kinked domain wall in the layer underneath through substantial electronic interlayer coupling. This work demonstrates that the interlayer electronic coupling can be an effective control knob over nanometer-scale electronic property of 2D atomic monolayers.