Quasi-2D superconductivity in FeTe0.55Se0.45 ultrathin film

Abstract

Iron-chalcogenide FeTe0.55Se0.45 was found to be a promising topological superconducting candidate recently, which may host Majorana bound state in the vortex core and thus attracts intensive research interests in this material. In this report, mechanically exfoliated FeTe0.55Se0.45 superconducting thin films close to the two-dimensional (2D) limit, i.e. sample thickness is on the order of coherence length, were studied systematically by means of electrical transport and point-contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy (PCARS) measurements. The quasi-2D nature of FeTe0.55Se0.45 thin films is evidenced by the observation of Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) transition and anisotropic upper critical fields in the vicinity of superconducting transition. Compared to bulk samples, we found that the superconducting transition temperature is only slightly suppressed even for films down to 5 nm. The superconducting gap symmetry remains unchanged and the gap size is weakly affected by tailoring thickness. Our findings suggest that the superconductivity of FeTe0.55Se0.45 thin films is rather robust against reduced dimensions. It provides a novel platform for device applications for quantum computations in combination with possible realization of Majorana modes in this material.