Imaging Spectroscopic Ellipsometry of Mono- and Few-layer MoS2

TL;DR

This study uses spectroscopic imaging ellipsometry to analyze mono- and multilayer MoS2, revealing optical properties, lateral homogeneity, and effects of fabrication methods with high spatial resolution.

Contribution

It introduces a method combining imaging ellipsometry and knife edge illumination for detailed optical characterization of MoS2 layers on various substrates.

Findings

Maximum absorbance of 14% for monolayer MoS2 on sapphire

Lateral dielectric function variations are minor and linked to fabrication methods

Critical point energies are consistent across models

Abstract

Micromechanically exfoliated mono- and multilayers of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) are investigated by spectroscopic imaging ellipsometry. In combination with knife edge illumination, MoS2 flakes can be detected and classified on arbitrary flat and also transparent substrates with a lateral resolution down to 1 to 2 um. The complex dielectric functions from mono- and trilayer MoS2 are presented. They are extracted from a multilayer model to fit the measured ellipsometric angles employing an anisotropic and an isotropic fit approach. We find that the energies of the critical points of the optical constants can be treated to be independent of the utilized model, whereas the magnitude of the optical constants varies with the used model. The anisotropic model suggests a maximum absorbance for a MoS2 sheet supported by sapphire of about 14 % for monolayer and of 10 % for trilayer MoS2. Furthermore, the lateral homogeneity of the complex dielectric function for monolayer MoS2 is investigated with a spatial resolution of 2 um. Only minor fluctuations are observed. No evidence for strain, for a significant amount of disorder or lattice defects can be found in the wrinkle-free regions of the MoS2 monolayer from complementary Raman spectroscopy measurements. We assume that the minor lateral variation in the optical constants are caused by lateral modification in the van der Waals interaction presumably caused by the preparation using micromechanical exfoliation and viscoelastic stamping.