Thin tungsten telluride layer preparation by thermal annealing

We report a simple method to prepare a thin Tungsten Telluride (WTe2) flake with accurate thickness control, which allows preparing and studying this two dimensional material conveniently. First, the WTe2 flake, which is relatively thick due to its strong interlayer van der Waals forces, is obtained by a conventional mechanical exfoliation method. Then, the exfoliated flake is annealed at 600 °C under a constant Ar protecting flow. Raman and atomic force spectroscopy characterizations demonstrate that thermal annealing can effectively thin down the WTe2 flake and retain its original lattice structure, though its surface smoothness is slightly deteriorated. Additionally, systematical study indicates that the thinning process strongly depends on the initial thickness of the WTe2 flake before annealing: the thinning rate increases from 0.12 nm min(-1) to 0.36 nm min(-1) as the initial thickness increases from 10 nm to 45 nm, while the roughness of the final product also increases with the increase of its initial thickness. However, the method fails when it is applied to WTe2 flakes thicker than 100 nm, resulting in uneven or burnt surface, which is possibly caused by big cavities formed by a large amount of defects gathered at the top surface.