Bi ultra-thin crystalline films on InAs(1 1 1)A and B substrates: a combined core-level and valence-band angle-resolved and dichroic photoemission study

Abstract

The growth of Bi on both the In-terminated (A) face and the As-terminated (B)face of InAs(1 1 1) has been investigated by low-energy electron diffraction, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation. The changes upon Bi deposition of the In4d and Bi 5d 5/2 photoelectron signals allow to get a comprehensive picture of the Bi/InAs(1 1 1) interface. From the early stage the Bi growth on the A face is epitaxial, contrary to that on the B face that proceeds via the formation of islands. Angle-resolved photoelectron spectra show that the electronic structure of a Bi deposit of ≈10 bi-layers on the A face is identical to that of bulkBi, while more than≈30 bi-layers are needed for the B face. Both bulk and surface electronic states observed are well accounted for by fully relativistic ab initio calculations performed using the one-step model of photoemission. These calculations are used to analyse the dichroic photoemission data recorded in the vicinity of the Fermi level around the G point of the Brillouin zone.

A 2D Bismuth-Induced Honeycomb Surface Structure on GaAs(111)

“…And "Bi_RT_2" in Figure 3a, it becomes evident that a significantly larger amount of Bi can be found on the sample after extended room temperature deposition. This thicker Bi layer grown at room temperature should consist of metallic Bi, according to previous reports; 9,11 thus we attribute the peak at lower B.E. to metallic Bi.…”

“…Combining STM and XPS results, we can conclude that Bi deposition on a heated GaAs(111)B surface results in the topmost As atoms bonding with Bi atoms, forming Bi–As covalent bonds. These Bi–As bonds and the corresponding Bi–As layer are qualitatively different from metallic Bi islands or Bi trimers in Bi-induced surface reconstructions which have been seen before upon Bi deposition on GaAs or other III–V semiconductors. ,,, Here, a large-scale, ordered 2D honeycomb structure is formed by Bi–As bonds, which even is stable upon annealing up to 400 °C.…”

The Crystalline Structure of Thin Bismuth Layers Grown on Silicon (111) Substrates

“…Various technologies were used to obtain high-quality Bi layers: thermal evaporation [ 10 ], electrodeposition [ 11 ], magnetron sputtering [ 6 ], pulsed laser deposition [ 12 ], and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) [ 13 ]. Epitaxial Bi layers were grown by MBE on a variety of substrates, such as graphene [ 14 ], highly oriented pyrolytic graphite [ 15 ], NaCl [ 6 ], InAs [ 16 ], SiC [ 17 ], and silicon [ 13 ]. Compatibility with existing silicon technology, the ability to grow full wafer-sized homogeneous layers of several nanometers thickness that can be transferred to other secondary substrates, has made Si (111) substrates [ 18 ] the most popular for growing Bi layers.…”

Topological electronic structure and Rashba effect in Bi thin layers: theoretical predictions and experiments

“…A thorough analysis combining ARPES measurements and fully-relativistic ab initio electronic band calculations of InBi(0 0 1), grown on the InAs(1 1 1)-A surface, indicates that the topmost Bi BL has the same structure as Bi in the space group No. 139 configuration [141]. Nonetheless, the mirror plane parallel to the (0 0 1) plane for Bi-139…”

“…Bi, while more than ∼ 30 BLs are needed for the B face[52].The surface termination controls as well atom mobility-driven structural changes after Bi deposition and upon subsequent annealing. On the A side, a morphology of circular patterns controlled by Bi atoms mobility is observed.…”