Rapid Surface Oxidation as a Source of Surface Degradation Factor for Bi2Se3

Abstract

Bi2Se3 is a topological insulator with metallic surface states residing in a large bulk bandgap. It is believed that Bi2Se3 gets additional n-type doping after exposure to atmosphere, thereby reducing the relative contribution of surface states in total conductivity. In this letter, transport measurements on Bi2Se3 nanoribbons provide additional evidence of such environmental doping process. Systematic surface composition analyses by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal fast formation and continuous growth of native oxide on Bi2Se3 under ambient conditions. In addition to n-type doping at the surface, such surface oxidation is likely the material origin of the degradation of topological surface states. Appropriate surface passivation or encapsulation may be required to probe topological surface states of Bi2Se3 by transport measurements.

References in corpus (9)

• Topological Insulators with Inversion Symmetry
• Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface
• Two-dimensional Dirac fermions in a topological insulator: transport in the quantum limit
• Topological origin of subgap conductance in insulating bilayer graphene
• Bulk Fermi surface coexistence with Dirac surface state in Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$: a comparison of photoemission and Shubnikov-de Haas measurements
• Few-layer Nanoplates of Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 with Highly Tunable Chemical Potential
• Strong surface scattering in ultrahigh mobility Bi2Se3 topological insulator crystals
• Electronic Structures and Surface States of Topological Insulator Bi${}_{1-x}$Sb${}_x$
• Discovery of several large families of Topological Insulator classes with backscattering-suppressed spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Growth of High-Mobility Bi2Te2Se Nanoplatelets on hBN Sheets by van der Waals Epitaxy
• Scanning Tunneling Microscopy of Gate Tunable Topological Insulator Bi2Se3 Thin Films
• Dirac cone shift of a passivated topological Bi2Se3 interface state
• Two-dimensional magnetotransport in Bi2Te2Se nanoplatelets
• Controlled MOCVD growth of Bi2Se3 topological insulator nanoribbons
• Giant plateau in the THz Faraday angle in gated Bi2Se3
• Persistent Topological Surface State at the Interface of Bi2Se3 Film Grown on Patterned Graphene