A team of researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) developed an approach that enabled them to directly observe how electrons interact with defects in advanced semiconductor devices in unprecedented detail. The team’s methodology included an innovative simulation tool that enabled accurate theoretical interpretations of its experimental observations.

The study, published in Nature, focuses on cutting-edge ultrathin devices known as two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors that have unusual electron states.

“Our study yielded valuable insights into why electrons in 2D semiconductors behave the way they do,” said Mike Crommie, a senior faculty scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and professor of physics at UC Berkeley, and one of the study’s authors.