Project Details
Projekt
Molecular-beam epitaxy of three-dimensional and novel two-dimensional topological insulators
Applicant
Dr. Gregor Mussler
Subject Area
Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
Term
from 2013 to 2017
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 237567671
In this project we aim to further develop our molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) technique to realize high-quality TI material. So far, we have grown thin TI films of Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 as well as ternay (Bi,Sb)2Te3 alloys and Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 heterostructures by means of MBE. Very recently, we have realized selective-area grown free-standing TI films on Si/SiO2 substrates, i.e. TI films without a substrate underneath. In the near future, we plan to characterize these free-standing films by means of transport experiments, nano-ARPES scans, and in-situ STM studies in order to investigate the influence of the substrates with respect to minimizing crystal defects. A strong increase of the carrier mobility and a minimization of bulk carriers is expected. Besides, we plan to realize and characterize topological insulator / superconductor systems by in-situ growing Al onto the TI surfaces with the help of µm-shadow masks. These substrates will subsequently be measured by transport in the context of detecting Majorana fermions. Another goal of this project focusses on the in-situ and ex-situ deposition of ferromagnetic films on the TI surfaces. These samples will be transferred to our collaboration partners in the frame of the SPPP1666 for studying the spin-polarized transport behavior of carriers at the surfaces of TIs. We also intend to grow novel 2D TI materials, such as stanene, germanene and Bi (110) bilayers. After growth, we will in-situ transfer these samples by means of our vacuum suitcase to our collaboration partners for carrying out ARPES and STM studies.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
Co-Investigator
Professor Dr. Thomas Schäpers
