Two Phases of Monolayer Tantalum Sulfide on Au(111).

We prepared monolayers of tantalum sulfide on Au(111) by evaporation of Ta in a reactive background of H2S. Under sulfur-rich conditions, monolayers of 2H-TaS2 formed, whereas under sulfur-poor conditions TaS2-x with 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 were found. We identified this phase as TaS, a structure that can be derived from 2H-TaS2 by removal of the bottom S layer.