Multi-conditioned controlled growth of CoBi nanostructures on SrTiO<sub>3</sub>

doi:10.1007/s11467-024-1423-6

Front. Phys.

2024, Vol. 19

Issue (6) : 63205 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-024-1423-6

Multi-conditioned controlled growth of CoBi nanostructures on SrTiO₃

Desheng Cai^1,², Yumin Xia^1,², Pengju Li^1,², Kun Xie^1,², Yuzhou Liu^1,², Yitong Gu^1,², Gan Yu^1,², Changgan Zeng^1,^2,³, Ping Cui^1,³, Shengyong Qin^1,^2,³(

)

¹. International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials (ICQD), University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
². CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
³. Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230088, China

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Abstract

Cobalt pnictides have been theoretically proposed to be attractive candidates for high-temperature superconductors. Additionally, monolayered CoX (X = As, Sb, Bi) on SrTiO₃ systems present a potential new platform for realizing topological superconductors in the two-dimensional limit, due to their nontrivial band topology. To this end, we have successfully fabricated high-quality CoBi nanoislands on SrTiO₃ (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy followed by an investigation of their atomic structure and electronic properties via in situ scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy. Beyond the previously predicted lattice with a = b = 3.5 Å, 2 × 1 dimer row was observed in this study. Furthermore, our results reveal that the topography of CoBi islands is strongly influenced by various growth conditions, such as substrate temperature, the flux ratio between Co and Bi, and the annealing process. This study paves the way for further explorations of the superconductivity and topological properties of cobalt pnictide systems.

Keywords CoBi/SrTiO₃ molecular beam epitaxy scanning tunneling microscopy scanning tunneling spectroscopy nanostructure

Corresponding Author(s): Shengyong Qin

Issue Date: 17 July 2024

Cite this article:

Desheng Cai,Yumin Xia,Pengju Li, et al. Multi-conditioned controlled growth of CoBi nanostructures on SrTiO₃[J]. Front. Phys. , 2024, 19(6): 63205.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fop/EN/10.1007/s11467-024-1423-6
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fop/EN/Y2024/V19/I6/63205

Fig.1 Epitaxial growth of CoBi on SrTiO₃ (001) substrate. (a) Topographic image (100 nm × 100 nm, U = +8 V, I = 10 pA) of CoBi islands grown on SrTiO₃ at 430 K. (b) Cross section of the STM image along the line in (a) (blue). (c) Atomically resolved topography measured on a CoBi island (6 nm × 6 nm, U = ?0.7 V, I = ?100 pA); the inset shows the fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the atomically resolved STM image of CoBi. (d) Typical dI/dV tunneling spectrum taken on the CoBi island. (e) PbO-type monolayered CoBi. The upper and lower panels show the top and side views, respectively. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [26].

Fig.2 Mismatched CoBi structure. (a) Topographic image (50 nm × 50 nm, U = +1 V, I = 10 pA) of CoBi islands. (b) Atomically resolved topography measured on a CoBi island in (a) (5 nm × 5 nm, U = +0.235 V, I = 110 pA).

Fig.3 Impact of varying substrate temperature on CoBi growth. (a) Topographic image (100 nm × 100 nm, U = +2 V, I = 10 pA) of the CoBi nanomesh grown on SrTiO₃ at 100 K after annealing at 393 K for 8 h, Co and Bi cell temperatures at 1420 K and 670 K. (b) Cross section of the STM image along the line in (a) (black). (c) Topographic image (100 nm × 100 nm, U = +2 V, I = 30 pA) of CoBi islands grown on SrTiO₃ at 100 K after annealing at 393 K for 8 hours, Co and Bi cell temperatures at 1420 K and 670 K; the inset shows the zoomed-in topography of a CoBi islands (5 nm × 5 nm, U = +0.1 V, I = 200 pA). (d) Cross section of the STM image along the line in (c) (blue). (e) Topographic image (100 nm × 100 nm, U = +1.5 V, I = 5 pA) of CoBi nanowires grown on SrTiO₃ at 500 K, Co and Bi cell temperatures at 1320 K and 670 K; the inset shows the zoomed-in topography of a CoBi nanowire showing its striped surface (5 nm × 5 nm, U = +0.1 V, I = 200 pA). (f) Cross section of the STM image along the line in (e) (purple).

Fig.4 STM/STS characterization of CoBi islands of different sizes. (a) Topographic image (100 nm × 100 nm, U = +8 V, I = 5 pA) of CoBi islands grown on SrTiO₃ at room temperature. (b) Cross section of the STM image along the line in (a) (black). (c) Zoomed-in topographic image (15 nm × 15 nm, U = +0.5 V, I = 100 pA) of island number 6. The top inset shows the atomically resolved topography measured in the flattened region in (c) (5 nm × 5 nm, U = +1 V, I = 10 pA), while the bottom inset shows the zoomed-in topography measured in the striped region in (c) (10 nm × 10 nm, U = +0.2 V, I = 1 nA). (d) Tunneling spectra taken on CoBi islands of different sizes and double logarithmic scale plot of Coulomb gap size and lateral size of CoBi islands. (e) Typical tunneling spectra taken on different size CoBi islands.

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