Conducting-probe AFM nanoscale joule heating yields charge-density-wave transition detection.

Several layered transition-metal dichalcogenides are studied using conducting probe AFM aiming to investigate the probe-mediated thermal processes likely to arise in the probe-substrate vicinity due to the high-current densities involved. A signature of local heating is found in the shape of current-potential (i/V) curves. The latter allows straightforward detection of a charge-density-wave (CDW) transition for 1T-TaSe(2) samples exhibiting it above room temperature. This is an illustration of a new use of conducting probe AFM to investigate solid-state bulk characteristics owing to a distinctive nanoscale Joule heating.