Controlling the Epitaxial Growth of Bi2Te3, BiTe, and Bi4Te3 Pure Phases by Physical Vapor Transport

Bi2Te3 is a well-studied material because of its thermoelectric properties and, recently, has also been studied as a topological insulator. However, it is only one of several compounds in the Bi–Te system. This work presents a study of the physical vapor transport growth of Bi–Te material focused on determining the growth conditions required to selectively obtain a desired phase of the Bi–Te system, i.e., Bi2Te3, BiTe, and Bi4Te3. Epitaxial films of these compounds were prepared on sapphire and silicon substrates. The results were verified by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry.