Research Progress on Epitaxial Growth and Transport Property of Single Crystal α-Sn Films

Abstract

Abstract: As an important topological material, α-Sn (also known as grey tin) can be turned into many topological phases including topological insulator and topological semimetal by breaking its symmetry. Until now, the study on α-Sn has been mainly focused on the topological band structures by theorical calculation and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), while the epitaxial growth of α-Sn and its electronic transport properties are seldom reported due to the substrate contribution. In this paper, the research progress of α-Sn is reviewed based on the recent progress made by our group, including the epitaxial growth of high quality α-Sn films by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), the methodology of transport measurements and topological property investigation. The transport evidence of topological semimetal phase and spin-polarized topological surface state in α-Sn is demonstrated and the topological property is engineered by thickness and strain, etc. This work provides not only important evidences for further investigation on the topological property of α-Sn, but also an essential material platform for novel quantum devices based on α-Sn.

Key words: α-Sn, topological material, molecular beam epitaxy, transport measurement, Dirac semimetal, topological insulator

CLC Number:

O484.1

LI Bingxin, DING Yuanfeng, LU Hong. Research Progress on Epitaxial Growth and Transport Property of Single Crystal α-Sn Films[J]. Journal of Synthetic Crystals, 2023, 52(6): 1025-1035.

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