Electronic structure, surface morphology, and topologically protected surface states of Sb2Te3 thin films grown on Si(111)

Abstract

We have performed a combined spectroscopy and microscopy study on surfaces of Sb2Te3/Si(111) thin films exposed to air and annealed under ultra-high vacuum conditions. Scanning tunneling microscopy images, with atomic resolution present in most areas of such processed surfaces, show a significant amount of impurities and defects. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals the bulk band gap of ∼170 meV centered ∼65 meV above the Fermi level. This intrinsic p-type doping behavior is confirmed by high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectra, which show the dispersions of the lower Dirac cone and the spectral weight of the bulk valence bands crossing the Fermi level. Spin-polarized photoemission revealed up to ∼15% in-plane spin polarization for photoelectrons related to the topologically protected Dirac cone states near the Fermi level, and up to ∼40% for several states at higher binding energies. The results are interpreted using ab initio electronic structure simulations and confirm the robustness of the time-reversal symmetry protected topological surface states in Sb2Te3 in the presence of impurities and defects.