Microscopic study on the electronic structure of V-doped WS₂

Introducing magnetism into a semiconductor is appealing because it combines the tunability of semiconductors with the utility of magnetism for spintronic devices. For example, the semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) show promise to replace silicon as the semiconductor in electronic devices. Through defect engineering via certain transition metal substitutions (e.g., V dopants), these materials can become dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS), opening the potential for spintronic applications. Understanding the microscopic influence of these dopants on the material’s electronic structure will enable better design of two-dimensional DMS. In our work, we use a solution-based CVD method to introduce magnetic V dopants into a representative 2D semiconductor WS₂. We utilize a collection of characterization techniques, including conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), to study the influence of dopants on the material’s atomic and electronic structure. We highlight that the atomic-resolution CAFM characterizes local conductivity at individual dopant sites, enabling fast and efficient studies of dopant properties combined with thorough atomic and electronic characterization provided by TEM and STM, respectively.