Lateral heterostructures formed by thermally converting n-type SnSe2 to p-type SnSe

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method to create in-plane p-n heterostructures by thermally converting n-type SnSe2 into p-type SnSe, enabling atomically sharp interfaces and potential applications in electronic devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates a new approach to form in-plane p-n junctions in 2D materials through thermal conversion, expanding the toolkit for heterostructure fabrication.

Findings

Atomically sharp interfaces between SnSe2 and SnSe.

Type II to nearly type III band alignment.

Micron-sized in-plane p-n junctions at predefined locations.

Abstract

Different two-dimensional materials, when combined together to form heterostructures, can exhibit exciting properties that do not exist in individual components. Therefore, intensive research efforts have been devoted to their fabrication and characterization. Previously, vertical and in-plane two-dimensional heterostructures have been formed by mechanical stacking and chemical vapor deposition. Here we report a new material system that can form in-plane p-n junctions by thermal conversion of n-type SnSe2 to p-type SnSe. Through scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory studies, we find that these two distinctively different lattices can form atomically sharp interfaces and have a type II to nearly type III band alignment. We also demonstrate that this method can be used to create micron sized in-plane p-n junctions at predefined locations. These findings pave the way for further exploration of the intriguing properties of the SnSe2-SnSe heterostructure.