EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

Here we present studies on the growth of metals on suspended two-dimensional materials. Two-dimensional suspended monolayer substrates are imaged at the atomic scale, using a scanning transmission electron microscope, and deposited with metals using physical vapour deposition. Ubiquitous surface contamination is removed from the substrate on a 100 micrometre scale before the deposition, using a high-powered laser. Further contamination is avoided transferring the specimen in a vacuum transfer system at a base pressure of 10-8 millibar. Rigorous control of surface contamination that can build a barrier between the deposited material and the specimen, as well as influence nucleation and growth, allows for a better understanding of the interaction between the substrate and the deposited material.
Titanium is found to interact strongly with a graphene substrate. Stoichiometric CuAu is found to be more weakly bound on graphene, but displays a new two-dimensional phase.