Growth of topological crystalline insulator SnTe thin films on Si(111) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

We present the growth of atomically flat topological crystalline insulator (TCI) SnTe films on Si(111) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The growth condition for achieving high quality SnTe film was established by a combination of reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies. In-situ angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements elucidate the topological nature of the SnTe films. The electronic structure of SnTe films can be tuned by film thickness and Pb doping. The success in growing high quality SnTe thin films with tunable electronic structure is crucial for potential device applications.