Superconductivity in 3R-Ta1−x M x Se2 (M = W, Mo)

The 3-layer rhombohedral (3R) polytype of TaSe2-x Te x is known to display a superconducting transition temperature that is between 6 and 17 times higher than that of the two-layer hexagonal (2H) polytype. The remarkable difference in T c, although clearly associated with a difference in polytype, could have been due to an electronic effect specific to the Te-Se substitution. Here we report that small amounts of Mo or W doping lead to a 2H to 3R polytype transition in Ta1-x Mo x Se2 and Ta1-x W x Se2. The 3R polytype materials are again found to have substantially higher T c (~2 K for Ta0.9W0.1Se2 and Ta0.9Mo0.1Se2) than the 2H material (0.15 K), eliminating the possibility that any special characteristics of the Te/Se substitution are responsible for the dramatic difference in T c. We infer that a three-layer stacking sequence is strongly preferred for superconductivity over a two-layer stacking sequence in the TaSe2 system.