Defect Density and Atomic Defect Recognition in the Middle Layer of a Trilayer MoS Stack.

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS) is one of the most intriguing two-dimensional materials, and moreover, its single atomic defects can significantly alter the properties. These defects can be both imaged and engineered using spherical and chromatic aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (C/C-corrected HRTEM). In a few-layer stack, several atoms are vertically aligned in one atomic column. Therefore, it is challenging to determine the positions of missing atoms and the damage cross-section, particularly in the not directly accessible middle layers. In this study, we introduce a technique for extracting subtle intensity differences in C/C-corrected HRTEM images. By exploiting the crystal structure of the material, our method discerns chalcogen vacancies even in the middle layer of trilayer MoS. We found that in trilayer MoS the middle layer's damage cross-section is about ten times lower than that in the monolayer. Our findings could be essential for the application of few-layer MoS in nanodevices.