Structural manipulation of the graphene/metal interface with Ar+ irradiation

Author(s)
E. H. Ahlgren, S. K. Hämäläinen, O. Lehtinen, P. Liljeroth, J. Kotakoski
Abstract

Controlled defect creation is a prerequisite for the detailed study of disorder effects in materials. Here, we irradiate a graphene/Ir(111) interface with low-energy Ar+ to study the induced structural changes. Combining computer simulations and scanning-probe microscopy, we show that the resulting disorder manifests mainly in the forms of intercalated metal adatoms and vacancy-type defects in graphene. One prominent feature at higher irradiation energies (from 1 keV up) is the formation of linelike depressions, which consist of sequential graphene defects created by the ion channeling within the interface, much like a stone skipping on water. Lower energies result in simpler defects, down to 100 eV, where more than one defect in every three is a graphene single vacancy.

Organisation(s)
Physics of Nanostructured Materials
External organisation(s)
Aalto University, Universität Ulm, University of Helsinki
Journal
Physical Review B
Volume
88
No. of pages
5
ISSN
1098-0121
Publication date
10-2013
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103018 Materials physics
Keywords
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/structural-manipulation-of-the-graphenemetal-interface-with-ar-irradiation(88455386-b65a-4d6e-bb41-989934f74739).html