Optimization of the growth of the van der Waals materials Bi2Se3 and (Bi0.5In0.5)2Se3 by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

The naturally existing chalcogenide Bi2Se3 is topologically nontrivial due to the band inversion caused by strong spin-orbit coupling inside the bulk of the material. The surface states are spin polarized, protected by the time-inversion symmetry, and thus robust to the scattering caused by non-magnetic defects. A high purity topological insulator thin film can be easily grown via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on various substrates to enable novel electronics, optics, and spintronics applications. However, the unique surface state properties have historically been limited by the film quality, which is evaluated by crystallinity, surface morphology, and transport data. Here we propose and investigate different MBE growth strategies to improve the quality of Bi2Se3 thin films grown by MBE. In addition, growths of topological trivial insulator (Bi0.5In0.5)2Se3 (BIS) are also investigated. BIS is often used as a buffer layer or separation layer for topological insulator heterostructures. Based on the surface passivation status, we have classified the substrates into two categories, self-passivated or unpassivated, and determine the optimal growth mechanisms on the representative sapphire and GaAs, respectively. Growth temperature is a crucial control parameter for the van der Waals epitaxy for both types of substrates. For Bi2Se3 on GaAs, the surface passivation status determines the dominant growth mechanism.

References in corpus (8)

• Gate-Voltage Control of Chemical Potential and Weak Anti-localization in Bismuth Selenide
• Epitaxial growth of topological insulator Bi2Se3 film on Si(111) with atomically sharp interface
• Topological-Metal to Band-Insulator Transition in (Bi1-xInx)2Se3 Thin Films
• Ultra-thin Topological Insulator Bi2Se3 Nanoribbons Exfoliated by Atomic Force Microscopy
• Suppressing twin formation in Bi2Se3 thin films
• Structural and electronic properties of highly doped topological insulator Bi2Se3 crystals
• Self-assembled nano-columns in Bi2Se3 grown by molecular beam epitaxy
• Growth of Topological Insulator Bi2Se3 Particles on GaAs via Droplet Epitaxy

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Quasi-van der Waals Epitaxial Growth of γ'-GaSe Thin Films on GaAs(111)B Substrates
• Large Bilinear Magnetoresistance from Rashba Spin-Splitting on the Surface of a Topological Insulator
• Growth of Ultrathin Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$ Films by Molecular Beam Epitaxy
• Epitaxial growth of atomically thin Ga2Se2 films on c-plane sapphire substrates
• Heteroepitaxial growth of highly anisotropic $S{b}_{2}S{e}_3$ films on GaAs
• Design of spin-orbital-textures in ferromagnetic/topological insulator interfaces
• Second harmonic generation and third harmonic generation in topological insulator-based van der Waals metamaterials
• Introducing antiferromagnetic ordering on the surface states of Bi2Se3 topological insulator by Europium doping
• Spectroscopy of van der Waals nanomaterials: Opportunities and Challenges