Atomistic Positioning of Defects in Helium Ion Treated Single-Layer MoS<sub>2</sub>
Elmar Mitterreiter, Bruno Schuler, Katherine Cochrane, Ursula Wurstbauer, Alexander Weber‐Bargioni, Christoph Kastl, Alexander W. Holleitner
Abstract
Structuring materials with atomic precision is the ultimate goal of nanotechnology and is becoming increasingly relevant as an enabling technology for quantum electronics/spintronics and quantum photonics. Here, we create atomic defects in monolayer MoS2 by helium ion (He-ion) beam lithography with a spatial fidelity approaching the single-atom limit in all three dimensions. Using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we confirm the formation of individual point defects in MoS2 upon He-ion bombardment and show that defects are generated within 9 nm of the incident helium ions. Atom-specific sputtering yields are determined by analyzing the type and occurrence of defects observed in high-resolution STM images and compared with Monte Carlo simulations. Both theory and experiment indicate that the He-ion bombardment predominantly generates sulfur vacancies.