Growth and structural characteristics of metastable β-In2Se3 thin films on H-terminated Si(111) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy*

Abstract

Epitaxial growth and structural characteristics of metastable β-In2Se3 thin films on H-terminated Si(111) substrates are studied. The In2Se3 thin films grown below the β-to-α phase transition temperature (453 K) are characterized to be strained β-In2Se3 mixed with significant γ-In2Se3 phases. The pure-phased single-crystalline β-In2Se3 can be reproducibly achieved by in situ annealing the as-deposited poly-crystalline In2Se3 within the phase equilibrium temperature window of β-In2Se3. It is suggeted that the observed γ-to-β phase transition triggered by quite a low annealing temperature should be a rather lowered phase transition barrier of the epitaxy-stabilized In2Se3 thin-film system at a state far from thermodynamic equilibrium.