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Free keywords:
Cost effectiveness; Electric insulators; Molecular beam epitaxy; Molecular beams; Quantum computers; Tellurium compounds; Thin films; Topological insulators; Vacuum applications, Bismuth telluride thin films; Conducting surfaces; Cost effective; Defects and impurities; Future applications; Physical vapor transport; Quantum Computing; Structural and morphological properties, Bismuth compounds
Abstract:
Bi2Te3 topological insulator thin films have been obtained by several techniques. For future applications in spintronics or quantum computing high quality homogenous films with few defects and impurities are required. Molecular beam epitaxy has been widely used for the growth of these materials, however, this technique operates in ultra-high vacuum conditions which significantly increases its cost. In this work, the use of the physical vapor transport technique is explored as a low cost alternative. A comparison of samples obtained by both methods allowed to conclude that they do not have significant differences regarding the structural and morphological properties in spite of the film thickness difference. Moreover, ARPES measurements indicate bulk insulating behavior with Dirac-like, conducting surface states for all samples. This demonstrates the feasibility of the physical vapor transport technique as a simpler and cost-effective alternative to molecular beam epitaxy, for the growth of Bi2Te3. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd
