Adsorption-controlled growth of MnTe(Bi2Te3)n by molecular beam epitaxy exhibiting stoichiometry-controlled magnetism

Abstract

We report the growth of the intrinsic magnetic topological system MnTe(Bi2Te3)n by molecular beam epitaxy. By mapping the temperature and the Bi:Mn flux ratio, it is shown that there is a narrow growth window for the n=1 phase MnBi2Te4 with 2.0<Bi:Mn<2.6 at 225 °C. Here the films are stoichiometric and excess Bi and Te is not incorporated. At higher flux ratios (Bi:Mn>4.5) it is found that the n = 2 MnBi4Te7 phase is stabilized. Transport measurements indicate that the MnBi2Te4 and MnBi4Te7 undergo magnetic transitions around 25 K, and 10 K, respectively, consistent with antiferromagnetic phases found in the bulk. Further, for Mn-rich conditions (Bi:Mn<2), ferromagnetism emerges that exhibits a clear hysteretic state in the Hall effect, which likely indicates Mn-doped MnBi2Te4. Understanding how to grow ternary chalcogenide phases is the key to synthesizing new materials and to interface magnetism and topology, which together are routes to realize and control exotic quantum phenomena.

Accepted in Physical Review Materials

References in corpus (6)

• Topological Field Theory of Time-Reversal Invariant Insulators
• Quantized Anomalous Hall Effect in Magnetic Topological Insulators
• High-precision realization of robust quantum anomalous Hall state in a hard ferromagnetic topological insulator
• Crystal growth and magnetic structure of MnBi2Te4
• Magnon-Fluxon interaction in a ferromagnet/superconductor heterostructure
• Record-High Proximity-Induced Anomalous Hall Effect in (Bi${}_x$Sb${}_{1-x}$)2Te${}_3$ Thin Film Grown on CrGeTe${}_3$ Substrate

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• Coexistence of Superconductivity and Antiferromagnetism in Topological Magnet MnBi2Te4 Films
• Embracing Disorder in Quantum Materials Design
• Correlation between magnetic domain structures and quantum anomalous Hall effect in epitaxial MnBi2Te4 thin films
• Atomic-Layer-Controlled Magnetic Orders in MnBi2Te4-Bi2Te3 Topological Heterostructures
• From classical to quantum regime of topological surface states via defect engineering
• Single-layer magnet phase in intrinsic magnetic topological insulators, $[\mathrm{MnTe}][{\mathrm{Bi}}_2{\mathrm{Te}}_3{]}_{\mathrm{n}}$, far beyond the thermodynamic limit
• Self-regulated growth of candidate topological superconducting parkerite by molecular beam epitaxy