High quality PdTe2 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61390501, 61622116, and 61471337), the Science Fund from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (Grant Nos. XDPB0601 and XDPB0801), the CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program, and the Beijing Nova Program (Grant No. Z181100006218023).

Abstract

PdTe2, a member of layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), has aroused significant research interest due to the coexistence of superconductivity and type-II Dirac fermions. It provides a promising platform to explore the interplay between superconducting quasiparticles and Dirac fermions. Moreover, PdTe2 has also been used as a substrate for monolayer antimonene growth. Here in this paper, we report the epitaxial growth of high quality PdTe2 films on bilayer graphene/SiC(0001) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Atomically thin films are characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), and Raman spectroscopy. The band structure of 6-layer PdTe2 film is measured by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Moreover, our air exposure experiments show excellent chemical stability of epitaxial PdTe2 film. High-quality PdTe2 films provide opportunities to build antimonene/PdTe2 heterostructure in ultrahigh vacuum for future applications in electronic and optoelectronic nanodevices.