Definitive structure of a stacking boundary of charge density waves in 1T-TaS 2 using a scanning tunneling microscope

Abstract

Definitive structure of a “stacking” boundary of nearly commensurate charge-density-waves (CDWs) in 1T-TaS 2, caused by self-intercalated Ta atoms into a van der Waals (vdW) gap, was clearly observed at room temperature by a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Charge density contours between the two parts were clearly seen to be markedly different. No distortions were found in either the wavelength or positions of CDWs over the area where self-intercalated Ta atoms were located in the vdW gap. However, their contour and amplitude were quite different from the commonly observed CDW structure.