• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.170.1-170.1
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• 2016

$Bi_2Te_3$ has long been studied for its excellent thermoelectric characteristics. Recently, this material has been known as a topological insulator (TI). The surface states within the bulk band gap of a TI, which are protected by the time reversal symmetry, contribute to the conduction at the surface, while the bulk is in insulating state. In contrast to the bulk defects tuning the chemical potential to the Dirac energy, the native defects near the surface are expected not to change the shape of the Fermi surface and the related spin structure. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we have systematically characterized surface or near surface defects in p- and n- doped $Bi_2Te_3$, and identified their structure by first principles calculations. In addition, bias-polarity dependences of STM images revealed the electron donor/acceptor nature of each defect. A detailed theoretical study of the surface states near the Dirac energy reveals the robustness of the Dirac point, which verifies the effectiveness of the disturbance on the backscattering from various kinds of defects.

• Electronics and Telecommunications Trends
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2023

Topological insulators (TIs) emerge as one of the most fascinating and amazing material in physics and electronics. TIs intrinsically possess both gapless conducting surface and insulating internal properties, instead of being only one property such as conducting, semiconducting, and insulating. The conducting surface state of TIs is the consequence of band inversion induced by strong spin-orbit coupling. Combined with broken inversion symmetry, the surface electronic band structure consists of spin helical Dirac cone, which allows spin of carriers governed by the direction of its momentum, and prohibits backscattering of the carriers. It is called by topological surface states (TSS). In this paper, we investigated the TIs materials and their unique properties and denoted the fabrication method of TIs such as deposition and exfoliation techniques. Since it is hard to observe the TSS, we introduced several specialized analysis tools such as angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, spin-momentum locking, and weak antilocalization. Finally, we reviewed the various fields to utilize the unique properties of TIs and summarized research trends of their applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.302-302
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• 2011

The binary chalcogenide semiconductor Bi2Se3 is at the center of intensive research on a new state of matter known as topological insulators. It has Dirac point in their band structures with robust surface states that are protected against external perturbations by strong spin-orbit coupling with broken inversion symmetry. Such unique band configurations were confirmed by recent angle-resolved photoelectron emission spectroscopy experiments with an unwanted n-type doping effect, showing a Fermi level shift of about 0.3 eV caused by atomic defects such as Se vacancies. Since the number of defects can be reduced using the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method. We have prepared the Bi2Se3 film on noble metal Au(111) and semiconductor Si(111) substrates by MBE method. To characterize the film, we have introduced several surface sensitive techniques including x-ray photoemission electron spectroscopy (XPS) and micro Raman spectroscopy. Also, crystallinity of the film has been confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). Using home-built scanning tunneling microscope, we observed the atomic structure of quintuple layered Bi2Se3 film on Au(111).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.284-284
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• 2016

Topological insulator (TI) is a bulk-insulating material with topologically protected Dirac surface states in the band gap. In particular, $Bi_2Se_3$ attracted great attention as a model three-dimensional TI due to its simple electronic structure of the surface states in a relatively large band gap (~0.3 eV). However, experimental efforts using $Bi_2Se_3$ have been difficult due to the abundance of structural defects, which frequently results in the bulk conduction being dominant over the surface conduction in transport due to the bulk doping effects of the defect sites. One promising approach in avoiding this problem is to reduce the structural defects by heteroepitaxially grow $Bi_2Se_3$ on a substrate with a compatible lattice structure, while also preventing surface degradation by encapsulating the pristine interface between $Bi_2Se_3$ and the substrate in a clean growth environment. A particularly promising choice of substrate for the heteroepitaxial growth is hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), which has the same two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) layered structure and hexagonal lattice symmetry as $Bi_2Se_3$. Moreover, since h-BN is a dielectric insulator with a large bandgap energy of 5.97 eV and chemically inert surfaces, it is well suited as a substrate for high mobility electronic transport studies of vdW material systems. Here we report the heteroepitaxial growth and characterization of high quality topological insulator $Bi_2Se_3$ thin films prepared on h-BN layers. Especially, we used molecular beam epitaxy to achieve high quality TI thin films with extremely low defect concentrations and an ideal interface between the films and substrates. To optimize the morphology and microstructural quality of the films, a two-step growth was performed on h-BN layers transferred on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) compatible substrates. The resulting $Bi_2Se_3$ thin films were highly crystalline with atomically smooth terraces over a large area, and the $Bi_2Se_3$ and h-BN exhibited a clear heteroepitaxial relationship with an atomically abrupt and clean interface, as examined by high-resolution TEM. Magnetotransport characterizations revealed that this interface supports a high quality topological surface state devoid of bulk contribution, as evidenced by Hall, Shubnikov-de Haas, and weak anti-localization measurements. We believe that the experimental scheme demonstrated in this talk can serve as a promising method for the preparation of high quality TI thin films as well as many other heterostructures based on 2D vdW layered materials.