Substitutional Tin Acceptor States in Black Phosphorus
- Mark WentinkMark WentinkDepartment of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, WC1E 7JE London, U.K.London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, WC1H 0AH London, U.K.More by Mark Wentink
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- Julian GaberleJulian GaberleDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, WC1E 6BT London, U.K.More by Julian Gaberle
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- Martik AghajanianMartik AghajanianDepartments of Materials and Physics and the Thomas Young Centre for Theory and Simulation of Materials, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ London, U.K.More by Martik Aghajanian
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- Arash A. MostofiArash A. MostofiDepartments of Materials and Physics and the Thomas Young Centre for Theory and Simulation of Materials, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ London, U.K.More by Arash A. Mostofi
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- Neil J. CursonNeil J. CursonDepartment of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, WC1E 7JE London, U.K.London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, WC1H 0AH London, U.K.More by Neil J. Curson
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- Johannes LischnerJohannes LischnerDepartments of Materials and Physics and the Thomas Young Centre for Theory and Simulation of Materials, Imperial College London, SW7 2AZ London, U.K.More by Johannes Lischner
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- Steven R. SchofieldSteven R. SchofieldDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, WC1E 6BT London, U.K.London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, WC1H 0AH London, U.K.More by Steven R. Schofield
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- Alexander L. ShlugerAlexander L. ShlugerDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, WC1E 6BT London, U.K.More by Alexander L. Shluger
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- Anthony J. Kenyon*Anthony J. Kenyon*Email: [email protected] (A.K.).Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, WC1E 7JE London, U.K.More by Anthony J. Kenyon
Abstract

Nominally pure black phosphorus (BP) is commonly found to be a p-type semiconductor, suggesting the ubiquitious presence of impurity species or intrinsic, charged defects. Moreover, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images of black phosphorus reveal the presence of long-range double-lobed defect features superimposed onto the surface atomic lattice. We show that both the p-type doping of BP and the defect features observed in STM images can be attributed to substitutional tin impurities. We show that black phosphorus samples produced through two common synthesis pathways contain tin impurities, and we demonstrate that the ground state of substitutional tin impurities is negatively charged for a wide range of Fermi level positions within the BP band gap. The localized negative charge of the tin impurities induces hydrogenic states in the band gap, and it is the 2p level that sits at the valence band edge that gives rise to the double-lobed features observed in STM images.
Cited By
This article is cited by 4 publications.
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- Quanjie Zhong. Intrinsic and engineered properties of black phosphorus. Materials Today Physics 2022, 28 , 100895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtphys.2022.100895
- Martik Aghajanian, Arash A. Mostofi, Johannes Lischner. Electronic structure of monolayer and bilayer black phosphorus with charged defects. Physical Review Materials 2022, 6 (4) https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.6.044002