Role of on-site Coulomb energy and negative-charge transfer in a Dirac semi-metal NiTe$_2$

TL;DR

This study combines spectroscopic techniques and calculations to analyze the electronic structure of NiTe₂, revealing its nature as a moderately correlated Dirac semi-metal influenced by on-site Coulomb energy and negative charge transfer.

Contribution

It provides a detailed quantification of electronic parameters in NiTe₂, demonstrating the role of negative charge transfer and Coulomb interactions in its Dirac semi-metal properties, which was previously unclear.

Findings

NiTe₂ exhibits a negative charge transfer energy Δ.

The Ni 3d on-site Coulomb energy U_dd is quantified and found to be significant.

U_dd > |Δ|, leading to band inversion and Dirac semi-metal behavior.

Abstract

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) combined with band structure calculations have shown that the layered transition metal dichalcogenide(TMD) NiTe$_2$ is a type-II Dirac semimetal. However, conflicting conclusions were reported regarding the role of electron correlations in NiTe$_2$. We study core-levels and valence band electronic structure of single crystal NiTe$_2$ using soft and hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy(SXPES, HAXPES), X-ray absorption spectroscopy(XAS) and Ni $2p-3d$ Resonant-PES to quantify electronic parameters in NiTe$_2$. The Ni $3d$ on-site Coulomb energy ($U_{dd}$) is quantified from measurements of the Ni $3d$ single particle density of states(DOS) and the two-hole correlation satellite. The Ni $2p$ core level and $L$-edge XAS spectra are analyzed by charge-transfer (CT) cluster model calculations using the experimental $U_{dd}$, and it shows that NiTe$_2$ exhibits a negative CT energy $\Delta$. A comparative analysis of NiO $L$-edge XAS confirms its well-known strongly correlated CT insulator character, with a larger $U_{dd}$ and positive $\Delta$. The $d$-$p$ hybridization strength $T_{eg}$ for NiTe$_2$$<$NiO, and shows that $T_{eg}$ is not responsible for reducing $U_{dd}$ in NiTe\textsubscript{2} compared to NiO. The negative-$\Delta$ and a reduced $U_{dd}$ leads to the increase in $d^n$ count on the Ni site in NiTe$_{2}$ by nearly one electron. However, importantly, since $U_{dd}$$>$$|\Delta|$, a finite repulsive $U_{dd}$ results in pushing $d$-states away from Fermi level and this is required to make NiTe$_{2}$ a moderately correlated Dirac semi-metal with band inversion in the $p$-$p$ type lowest energy excitations.