Microstructural and vibrational properties of PVT grown Sb2Te3 crystals

• Microcrystals of Sb2Te3 are grown by the physical vapor transport (PVT) method.
• Structure of Sb2Te3 is determined by single crystal structure analysis.
• Spectroscopic parameters of Sb2Te3 microplates are measured with Raman spectroscopy.

High-quality Sb2Te3 microcrystals have been grown by the physical vapor transport (PVT) method without using a foreign transport agent. The microcrystals grown under optimal temperature gradient are well facetted and they have dimensions up to ~200 μm. The phase composition of the grown crystals has been identified by the X-ray single crystal structure analysis in space group R−3m, a=4.2706(1), b=30.4758(8) Ǻ, Z=3 (R=0.0286). Raman microspectrometry has been used to describe the vibration parameters of Sb2Te3 microcrystals. The FWHM parameters obtained for representative Raman lines at 69 and 111 cm−1 are as low as 5 and 8.6 cm−1, respectively.