Luca Bignardi, Daniel Lizzit, Harsh Bana, Elisabetta Travaglia, Paolo Lacovig, Charlotte E. Sanders, Maciej Dendzik, Matteo Michiardi, Marco Bianchi, Moritz Ewert, Lars Buß, Jens Falta, Jan Ingo Flege, Alessandro Baraldi, Rosanna Larciprete, Philip Hofmann, Silvano Lizzit
- A singly oriented, single layer of tungsten disulfide (WS2) was epitaxially grown on Au(111) and characterized at the nanoscale by combining photoelectron spectroscopy, photoelectron diffraction, and low-energy electron microscopy. Fast x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the growth of a single crystalline orientation is triggered by choosing a low W evaporation rate and performing the process with a high temperature of the substrate. Information about the single orientation of the layer was obtained by acquiring x-ray photoelectron diffraction patterns, revealing a 1H polytype for the WS2 layer and, moreover, determining the structural parameters and registry with the substrate. The distribution, size, and orientation of the WS2 layer were further ascertained by low-energy electron microscopy.