Epitaxial growth of antimony nanofilms on HOPG and thermal desorption to control the film thickness

• 作者: Fei Pang Feiyue Cao Haoyu Dong Jianfeng Guo Le Lei Rui Xu Sabir Hussain Shangzhi Gu Shuya Xing Wei Ji Zhihai Cheng
• 来源期刊: 中国物理B（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（9）
• 所属期刊栏目: RAPID COMMUNICATION
• 页码范围: 179-187
• 页数: 9页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/aba27c

摘要

Group-V elemental nanofilms were predicted to exhibit interesting physical properties such as nontrivial topological properties due to their strong spin-orbit coupling,the quantum confinement,and surface effect.It was reported that the ultrathin Sb nanofilms can undergo a series of topological transitions as a function of the film thickness h: from a topological semimetal (h ＞ 7.8 nm) to a topological insulator (7.8 nm＞ h ＞ 2.7 nm),then a quantum spin Hall (QSH) phase (2.7 nm ＞ h ＞ 1.0 nm) and a topological trivial semiconductor (h ＜ 1.0 nm).Here,we report a comprehensive investigation on the epitaxial growth of Sb nanofilms on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrate and the controllable thermal desorption to achieve their specific thickness.The morphology,thickness,atomic structure,and thermal-strain effect of the Sb nanofilms were characterized by a combination study of scanning electron microscopy (SEM),atomic force microscopy (AFM),and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).The realization of Sb nanofilms with specific thickness paves the way for the further exploring their thickness-dependent topological phase transitions and exotic physical properties.