Scanning tunneling microscopy imaging of transition‐metal dichalcogenides

Structural features of TiS2 were studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and single-crystal x-ray diffraction was applied as a complementary technique. STM images in air and at room temperature revealed, besides the trigonal symmetry of the lattice, several new features having this symmetry as well. We conclude that these features are not only to be described by structural defect phenomena which affect sites in the 1T-CdI2 structure but tetrahedral sites as well. Sample orientation determination by x-ray diffraction provides a unique relation between feature types and sites. A model is proposed in which displaced Ti atoms account for the observed features