Surface Oxidation of the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3

TL;DR

This study investigates the surface aging and oxidation process of Bi2Se3 topological insulator, revealing a two-step oxidation mechanism and providing non-destructive optical measurement techniques.

Contribution

It offers a detailed temporal characterization of Bi2Se3 surface oxidation and demonstrates ellipsometry as a non-destructive method to measure surface oxide growth.

Findings

Surface oxidation occurs in two major steps within hours.

Oxidation of a full quintuple layer takes days.

Ellipsometry effectively measures oxide thickness non-destructively.

Abstract

A comprehensive picture of the aging and oxidation of the (0001) surface of Bi2Se3 is critical to understanding the physical origin of changes in its topologically protected surface states. We find that surface aging in ambient conditions occurs in two major steps. Within two hours of exfoliation, a series of ~ 3.6 A high islands are observed by atomic force microscopy over approximate 10% of the surface. Subsequently, patch growth stops, and oxidation begins after the two hours and continues until one quintuple layer has been oxidized. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows no sign of oxidation before ~ 120 minutes of exposure to air, and the oxygen 1s peak is clearly present after ~ 190 minutes of ambient exposure. Variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry also indicates that the oxidation of a full quintuple layer occurs on the time scale of days. These results are in good agreement with the time dependent changes previously observed in the surface crystal structure by second harmonic generation. In addition to providing the ability to non-destructively measure oxide on the surface of Bi2Se3 crystals, ellipsometry can be used to identify the thickness of Bi2Se3 flakes. These results are consistent with non-linear optical methods including rotational anisotropy second harmonic generation, which follow the time dependence of the changes to the top quintuple layer.