Self-regulated growth of candidate topological superconducting parkerite by molecular beam epitaxy

Jason Lapano, Yun Yi Pai, Alessandro R. Mazza, Jie Zhang, Tamara Isaacs-Smith, Patrick Gemperline, Lizhi Zhang, Haoxiang Li, Ho Nyung Lee, Gyula Eres, Mina Yoon, Ryan Comes, T. Zac Ward, BENJAMINJ Lawrie, Michael A. McGuire, Robert G. Moore, Christopher T. Nelson, Andrew F. May, Matthew Brahlek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ternary chalcogenides, such as parkerites and shandites, are a broad class of materials exhibiting a rich diversity of transport and magnetic behavior and an array of topological phases, including Weyl and Dirac nodes. However, they remain largely unexplored as high-quality epitaxial thin films. Here, we report the self-regulated growth of thin films of the strong spin-orbit coupled superconductor Pd3Bi2Se2 on SrTiO3 by molecular beam epitaxy. Films are found to grow in a self-regulated fashion, where, in excess Se, the temperature and relative flux ratio of Pd to Bi control the formation of Pd3Bi2Se2 due to the combined volatility of Bi, Se, and Bi-Se bonded phases. The resulting films are shown to be of high structural quality, and the stoichiometry is independent of the Pd:Bi and Se flux ratio and exhibits a superconducting transition temperature of 800 mK and a critical field of 17.7 ± 0.5 mT, as probed by transport and magnetometry. Understanding and navigating the growth of the chemically and structurally diverse classes of ternary chalcogenides open a vast space for discovering new phenomena and enabling new applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101110
JournalAPL Materials
Volume9
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2021

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Materials Sciences and Engineering Division (growth, structure, and electron microscopy), and the National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, Quantum Science Center (transport). This research used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, DOE Office of Science User Facilities. RBS measurement at Auburn University was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under Award No. FA9550-20-1-0034.

FundersFunder number
National Quantum Information Science Research Centers
U.S. Department of Energy
Air Force Office of Scientific ResearchFA9550-20-1-0034
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences
Auburn University
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering
National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center

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