Epitaxial growth of bilayer Bi(110) on two-dimensional ferromagnetic Fe3GeTe2

TL;DR

This paper reports the epitaxial growth of bilayer Bi(110) on 2D ferromagnetic Fe3GeTe2, demonstrating interface coupling and potential for spintronic applications through detailed structural and electronic analysis.

Contribution

It presents the first epitaxial growth of bilayer Bi(110) on 2D ferromagnetic Fe3GeTe2 with detailed orientation and interface coupling characterization.

Findings

Bilayer Bi(110) islands align along fixed lattice directions of FGT.

Six preferred orientations with three-fold symmetry axes are identified.

Interface coupling affects the energy gap at the edges of bilayer Bi(110).

Abstract

Heterostructures of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials with selective compositions play an important role in creating novel functionalities. Effective interface coupling between 2D ferromagnet and electronic materials would enable the generation of exotic physical phenomena caused by intrinsic symmetry breaking and proximity effect at interfaces. Here, epitaxial growth of bilayer Bi(110) on 2D ferromagnetic Fe3GeTe2 (FGT) with large magnetic anisotropy has been reported. Bilayer Bi(110) islands are found to extend along fixed lattice directions of FGT. The six preferred orientations could be divided into two groups of three-fold symmetry axes with the difference approximately to 26{\deg}. Moreover, dI/dV measurements confirm the existence of interface coupling between bilayer Bi(110) and FGT. A variation of the energy gap at the edges of bilayer Bi(110) is also observed which is modulated by the interface coupling strengths associated with its buckled atomic structure. This system provides a good platform for further study of the exotic electronic properties of epitaxial Bi(110) on 2D ferromagnetic substrate and promotes potential applications in the field of spin devices.