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Free keywords:
Alumina, Aluminum oxide, Molecular beams, Single crystals, Superconducting films, Thin films, Topology, Bulk single crystals, Half-heusler, Half-Heusler compound, High-crystalline quality, Lithographic structures, Molecular-beam epitaxy, Superconducting properties, Superconducting state, Thin-films, Topological properties, Molecular beam epitaxy
Abstract:
The search for topological superconductivity has motivated investigations into materials that combine topological and superconducting properties. The half-Heusler compound YPtBi appears to be such a material; however, experiments have thus far been limited to bulk single crystals, drastically limiting the scope of available experiments. This has made it impossible to investigate the potential topological nature of the superconductivity in this material. Experiments to access details about the superconducting state require sophisticated lithographic structures, typically based on thin films. Here we report on the establishment of high-crystalline-quality epitaxial thin films of YPtBi(111), grown using molecular beam epitaxy on Al2O3(0001) substrates. A robust superconducting state is observed, with both critical temperature and critical field consistent with that previously reported for bulk crystals. Moreover, we find that AlOx capping sufficiently protects the sample surface from degradation to allow for proper lithography. Our results pave a path towards the development of advanced lithographic structures, which will allow the exploration of the potentially topological nature of superconductivity in YPtBi. © 2023 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.
