Double-sided van der Waals epitaxy of topological insulators across an atomically thin membrane

Joon Young Park^{1

2}, Young Jae Shin¹, Jeacheol Shin², Jehyun Kim², Janghyun Jo³, Hyobin Yoo^{1

3

4}, Danial Haei^{1

5}, Chohee Hyun⁶, Jiyoung Yun², Robert M Huber^{7

8}, Arijit Gupta^{7

8}, Kenji Watanabe⁹, Takashi Taniguchi¹⁰, Wan Kyu Park⁸, Hyeon Suk Shin^{11

12}, Miyoung Kim³, Dohun Kim², Gyu-Chul Yi¹³, Philip Kim¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Institute of Applied Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Research Institute of Advanced Materials, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Department of Physics, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Center for Nanoscale Systems, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Energy Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁸ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁹ Research Center for Electronic and Optical Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹⁰ Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Energy and Department of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, Republic of Korea.
¹² Center for 2D Quantum Heterostructures, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, Republic of Korea.
¹³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Institute of Applied Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. gcyi@snu.ac.kr.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. pkim@physics.harvard.edu.

PMID: 39843683
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-024-02079-5

Double-sided van der Waals epitaxy of topological insulators across an atomically thin membrane

Joon Young Park et al. Nat Mater. 2025 Mar.

. 2025 Mar;24(3):399-405.

doi: 10.1038/s41563-024-02079-5. Epub 2025 Jan 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Institute of Applied Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Research Institute of Advanced Materials, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Department of Physics, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Center for Nanoscale Systems, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Energy Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁸ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁹ Research Center for Electronic and Optical Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹⁰ Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Energy and Department of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, Republic of Korea.
¹² Center for 2D Quantum Heterostructures, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon, Republic of Korea.
¹³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Institute of Applied Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. gcyi@snu.ac.kr.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. pkim@physics.harvard.edu.

PMID: 39843683
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-024-02079-5

Abstract

Atomically thin van der Waals (vdW) films provide a material platform for the epitaxial growth of quantum heterostructures. However, unlike the remote epitaxial growth of three-dimensional bulk crystals, the growth of two-dimensional material heterostructures across atomic layers has been limited due to the weak vdW interaction. Here we report the double-sided epitaxy of vdW layered materials through atomic membranes. We grow vdW topological insulators Sb₂Te₃ and Bi₂Se₃ by molecular-beam epitaxy on both surfaces of atomically thin graphene or hexagonal boron nitride, which serve as suspended two-dimensional vdW substrate layers. Both homo- and hetero-double-sided vdW topological insulator tunnel junctions are fabricated, with the atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride acting as a crystal-momentum-conserving tunnelling barrier with abrupt and epitaxial interfaces. By performing field-angle-dependent magneto-tunnelling spectroscopy on these devices, we reveal the energy-momentum-spin resonance of massless Dirac electrons tunnelling between helical Landau levels developed in the topological surface states at the interfaces.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

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Double-sided van der Waals epitaxy of topological insulators across an atomically thin membrane

Affiliations

Double-sided van der Waals epitaxy of topological insulators across an atomically thin membrane

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources