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Molecular beam epitaxy growth of nonmagnetic Weyl semimetal LaAlGe thin film

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2020

Niraj Bhattarai ,
Andrew W. Forbes ,
Rajendra P. Dulal ,
Ian L. Pegg  and
John Philip
Niraj Bhattarai*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064, USA Vitreous State Laboratory, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064, USA
Andrew W. Forbes
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064, USA Vitreous State Laboratory, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064, USA
Rajendra P. Dulal
Affiliation:
Institute for Quantum Physics, Advanced Physics Laboratory, Chapman University, MD20866, USA
Ian L. Pegg
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064, USA Vitreous State Laboratory, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064, USA
John Philip
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064, USA Vitreous State Laboratory, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC20064, USA
*
Address all correspondence to Niraj Bhattarai at bhattarai@cua.edu
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Abstract

Here, the authors report a detailed method of growing LaAlGe, a nonmagnetic Weyl semimetal, thin film on silicon(100) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy and their structural and electrical characterizations. About 50-nm-thick LaAlGe films were deposited and annealed for 16 h in situ at a temperature of 793 K. As-grown high-quality films showed uniform surface topography and near ideal stoichiometry with a body-centered tetragonal crystal structure. Temperature-dependent longitudinal resistivity can be understood with dominant interband s–d electron–phonon scattering in the temperature range of 5–40 K. Hall measurements confirmed the semimetallic nature of the films with an electron-dominated charge carrier density of ~7.15 × 1021 cm−3 at 5 K.

Type
Research Letters
Information
MRS Communications , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 272 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society, 2020

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