Making Patterned Single Defects in MoS2 Thermally with the MoS2/Au Moire Interface

Normally, it is hard to regulate thermal defects precisely in their host lattice due to the stochastic nature of thermal activation. Here, we demonstrate a thermal annealing way to create patterned single sulfur vacancy (V-S) defects in monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with about 2 nm separations at subnanometer accuracy. Theoretically, we reveal that the S-Au interface coupling reduces the energy barriers in forming V-S defects and that explains the overwhelming formation of interface V-S defects. We also discover a phonon regulation mechanism by the moire interface that effectively condenses the Gamma-point out-of-plane acoustic phonons of monolayer MoS2 to its TOP moire sites, which has been proposed to trigger moire-patterned thermal V-S formation. The high-throughput nanoscale patterned defects presented here may contribute to building scalable defect-based quantum systems.