Growth and atomic structure of tellurium thin films grown on Bi2Te3

We have grown tellurium (Te) thin films on Bi2Te3 and investigated the atomic structure. From low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) measurements, we found that the Te films are [101¯0]-oriented with six domains. A detailed analysis of the reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) pattern revealed that the films are strained with the in-plane lattice constant compressed by ∼1.5% compared to the bulk value due to the epitaxy between Te and Bi2Te3. These films will be interesting systems to investigate the predicted topological phases that occur in strained Te.