Epitaxial growth and electronic properties of few-layer stanene on InSb (111)*

Stanene has been predicted to be a 2D topological insulator with a large band gap, potentially hosting a room-temperature quantum spin Hall effect [1]. Here, stanene with controllable layers has been epitaxially grown on InSb (111) and its electronic properties have been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) and low-temperature magnetotransport experiments [2]. STS results reveal a large band gap on both the wetting layer (~ 0.35 eV) and the subsequently grown single-layer (~ 0.2 eV) stanene. Spectroscopy evidences of edge state with energy inside the band gap, are also observed on the step of stanene film. Furthermore, the magnetotransport results show clear Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations in the bulk state of single-layer stanene. A brief discussion along with the data will be presented.

Reference:
[1] See, e.g., Y. Xu, B. Yan, H. J. Zhang, J. Wang, G. Xu, P. Tang, W. Duan, and S. C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 1 (2013).
[2] X. Zheng, J.-F. Zhang, B. Tong, and R.-R. Du, 2D Mater. 7, 11001 (2019).