Evidence of thickness-dependent surface-induced ferroelectricity in few-layer germanium sulfide obtained via scanning tunneling spectroscopy

The discovery of ferroelectricity in two-dimensional van der Waals materials has sparked enormous interest from the scientific community, due to its possible applications in next-generation nanoelectronic devices, such as random-access memory devices, digital signal processors, and solar cells, among others. In the present study, we used vapor phase deposition to synthesize ultrathin germanium sulfide nano-flakes on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite substrate. Nanostructures of variable thicknesses were characterized using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Tunneling currents under forward and backward biases were measured as a function of nano-flake thickness. Remarkably, we clearly observed a hysteresis pattern, which we attributed to surface ferroelectric behavior, consistent with the screening conditions of polarization charges. The effect increases as the number of layers is reduced. This experimental result may be directly applicable to miniaturized memory devices, given the two-dimensional nature of this effect.