Cleaved surfaces and homoepitaxial growth of InBi(001)

Abstract

InBi is a semimetal with topologically non-trivial electronic surface states, which is also chemically and structurally compatible with conventional III-V semiconductors. Single crystal InBi has been grown and its (001) cleave surfaces studied. They do not conform to the single Bi-Bi cleave plane previously assumed in band structure studies of the material but instead expose both In- and Bi-terminated surface regions. Crystals cleaved in ultra-high vacuum have been used as substrates for ultra-low temperature homoepitaxy via periodic supply epitaxy (PSE) with alternate Bi and In fluxes. Homoepitaxial growth of good quality InBi was not achieved under these conditions. The 3D and 2D surface structures produced by PSE were studied by reflection high energy electron diffraction and atomic force microscopy. By studying InBi homoepitaxy for the first time, this work highlights the challenge of growing high quality InBi epilayers beyond the ultra-thin heteroepitaxial layers recently demonstrated [Molecules 2024, 29(12), 2825].