In this PhD thesis, the recombination of different atomic lattices in stacked 2D materials such as twisted bilayer graphene is studied. Using the different possibilities of Low-Energy Electron... Show moreIn this PhD thesis, the recombination of different atomic lattices in stacked 2D materials such as twisted bilayer graphene is studied. Using the different possibilities of Low-Energy Electron Microscopy (LEEM), the domain forming between the two atomic layers with small differences is studied. Superlattices in three such 2D material systems are studied. In twisted bilayer graphene, the small difference is caused by a twist of approximately one degree between the layers. In graphene on SiC, the difference is caused by the lattice mismatch between a buffer layer bound to the substrate and the next graphene layer. For both, we show that domains of different shapes and sizes occur and relate them to strain and lattice mismatch. The third system studied is tantalum disulfide. In this layered material, two different superlattices occur: a superlattice between atomic layers with different atomic arrangements in the layers, so-called polytypes, and the superlattices between the atomic lattice and the Charge Density Waves (CDW). CDWs cause a large temperature dependent resistivity change. The influence of a mixture of different polytypes on the precise CDW states is studied using LEEM spectroscopy and local Low-Energy Electron Diffraction. Show less
Electron microscopy has become an extremely important techniquein a wide variety of elds. The resolving power is vastly superiorto light microscopes and electron microscopy has proven tobe valuable... Show moreElectron microscopy has become an extremely important techniquein a wide variety of elds. The resolving power is vastly superiorto light microscopes and electron microscopy has proven tobe valuable in elds ranging from archaeology and geology to biology andcondensed-matter physics.A major disadvantage is that the electron energy used in conventional ElectronMicroscopy (EM) ranges from 10’s to 100’s of keV. Such energetic electronscan signicantly damage the specimen. This is especially relevant in thestudy of biological samples and organic materials in general. Major eorts arebeing made to avoid this radiation damage from interfering with the studyof such materials. There are several approaches to minimize damage in EM.These include developing better detectors such that lower electron doses aresucient to form an image, and lowering the electron energies to several keV.In this dissertation I present the development of, and measurements with, atransmission electron microscope that uses electron energies ve orders ofmagnitude lower than in conventional Transmission Electron Microscopes(TEMs). The energies we use are in the order of a few eV. Hence, we call ourtechnique ’eV-TEM’. Show less
