• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.306-306
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• 2011

Three dimensional(3D) topological insulators(TIs) of Bi binary alloys are characterized by a bulk energy gap with strong spin-orbit coupling and metallic surface states protected by time-reversal symmetry. It was reported that film forms of such materials were advantageous over bulk forms due to less defect density and better crystallinity. So far, the films have been prepared on several substrates including semiconductors and graphene. But, there were no studies on metal substrates. For electronic transport experiments and device applications, it is necessary to know epitaxial relation between TIs and metal electrodes. In this study, Atomically flat films of Bi2Se3 were grown on a Au(111) metal substrate by in-situ molecular beam epitaxy. Using home-built scanning tunneling microscope, we observed hexagonal atomic structures which corresponded to the outmost selenium atomic layer of Bi2Se3. Triangular-shaped defects known as Selenium vacancy were also found.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.110-120
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• 2017

Non-isothermal thermogravimetry (TG) measurements on melt-quenched $Bi_xSe_{100-x}$ specimens (x=0, 2.5, 7.5 at%) were made at a heating rate ${\beta}=10^{\circ}C/min$ in the range $T=35^{\circ}C{\sim}950^{\circ}C$. The as-measured TG curves confirm that $Bi_xSe_{100-x}$ samples were thermally stable with minor loss at $T{\leq}400^{\circ}C$ and mass loss starts to decrease up to $600^{\circ}C$, beyond which trivial mass loss was observed. These TG curves were used to estimate molar (Se/Bi)-ratios of $Bi_xSe_{100-x}$ samples, which were not in accordance with initial composition. Shaping features of conversion curves ${\alpha}(T)-T$ of $Bi_xSe_{100-x}$ samples combined with a reliable flow chart were used to reduce kinetic mechanisms that would have caused their thermal mass loss to few nth-order reaction models of the form $f[{\alpha}(T)]{\propto}[1-{\alpha}(T)]^n$ (n=1/2, 2/3, and 1). The constructed ${\alpha}(T)-T$ and $(d{\alpha}(T)/dT)-T$ curves were analyzed using Coats-Redfern (CR) and Achar-Brindley-Sharp (ABS) kinetic formulas on basis of these model functions, but the linearity of attained plots were good in a limited ${\alpha}(T)-region$. The applicability of CR and ABS methods, with model function of kinetic reaction mechanism R0 (n=0), was notable as they gave best linear fits over much broader ${\alpha}(T)-range$.