title: Strain-engineered diffusive atomic switching in two-dimensional crystals.
abstract: Strain engineering is an emerging route for tuning the bandgap, carrier mobility, chemical reactivity and diffusivity of materials. Here we show how strain can be used to control atomic diffusion in van der Waals heterostructures of two-dimensional (2D) crystals. We use strain to increase the diffusivity of Ge and Te atoms that are confined to 5 Å thick 2D planes within an Sb2Te3-GeTe van der Waals superlattice. The number of quintuple Sb2Te3 2D crystal layers dictates the strain in the GeTe layers and consequently its diffusive atomic disordering. By identifying four critical rules for the superlattice configuration we lay the foundation for a generalizable approach to the design of switchable van der Waals heterostructures. As Sb2Te3-GeTe is a topological insulator, we envision these rules enabling methods to control spin and topological properties of materials in reversible and energy efficient ways.
authors.affiliation: Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore.|Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Janne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kalikka
authors.affiliation: Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore.
authors.forename: Xilin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (ICFO), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels, Barcelona 08860, Spain.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dilcher
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (ICFO), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels, Barcelona 08860, Spain.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6136-0224
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wall
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Ju
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7841-8058
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore.
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Simpson