skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Superconductivity in few-layer stanene

Journal Article · · Nature Physics
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [4];  [2]
  1. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Lab. of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics and Dept. of Physics
  2. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Lab. of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics and Dept. of Physics; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (CICQM), Beijing (China)
  3. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Lab. of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics and Dept. of Physics; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (CICQM), Beijing (China); RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Saitama (Japan)
  4. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Physics

A single atomic slice of α-tin—stanene—has been predicted to host the quantum spin Hall effect at room temperature, offering an ideal platform to study low-dimensional and topological physics. Although recent research has focused on monolayer stanene, the quantum size effect in few-layer stanene could profoundly change material properties, but remains unexplored. By exploring the layer degree of freedom, we discover superconductivity in few-layer stanene down to a bilayer grown on PbTe, while bulk α-tin is not superconductive. Through substrate engineering, we further realize a transition from a single-band to a two-band superconductor with a doubling of the transition temperature. In situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) together with first-principles calculations elucidate the corresponding band structure. The theory also indicates the existence of a topologically non-trivial band. Thus, our experimental findings open up novel strategies for constructing two-dimensional topological superconductors.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) (China); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Beijing Innovation Center for Future Chip (ICFC); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Thousand-Young-Talents Program (China)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; 2017YFA0304600; 2017YFA0302902; 11604176
OSTI ID:
1438571
Journal Information:
Nature Physics, Vol. 14, Issue 4; ISSN 1745-2473
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group (NPG)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 153 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (45)

Buckled two-dimensional Xene sheets journal January 2017
Creation and control of a two-dimensional electron liquid at the bare SrTiO3 surface journal January 2011
Metallic ground state in an ion-gated two-dimensional superconductor journal October 2015
Evidence for two-dimensional Ising superconductivity in gated MoS2 journal November 2015
Ein neuer Effekt bei Eintritt der Supraleitf�higkeit journal November 1933
Ising pairing in superconducting NbSe2 atomic layers journal November 2015
Nature of the quantum metal in a two-dimensional crystalline superconductor journal December 2015
Superconductivity in one-atomic-layer metal films grown on Si(111) journal January 2010
On the origin of critical temperature enhancement in atomically thin superconductors journal April 2017
Quantum Griffiths singularity of superconductor-metal transition in Ga thin films journal October 2015
Discovery of robust in-plane ferroelectricity in atomic-thick SnTe journal July 2016
Limits of the upper critical field in dirty two-gap superconductors journal June 2007
Band Structure and Laser Action in Pb x Sn 1 x Te journal June 1966
Hydrogen as a Cause of Doping in Zinc Oxide journal July 2000
Two-Dimensional Superconductor with a Giant Rashba Effect: One-Atom-Layer Tl-Pb Compound on Si(111) journal October 2015
Anomalous Band Gap Evolution from Band Inversion in Pb 1− x Sn x Te Nanocrystals journal April 2009
Hard gap in epitaxial semiconductor–superconductor nanowires journal January 2015
Electron-phonon interactions and superconductivity in Si, Ge, and Sn journal October 1986
A review of two-band superconductivity: materials and effects on the thermodynamic and reversible mixed-state properties journal February 2013
Review of 2D superconductivity: the ultimate case of epitaxial monolayers journal November 2016
Epitaxial growth of two-dimensional stanene journal August 2015
Superconductivity at the Two-Dimensional Limit journal April 2009
Electron—phonon Coupling and the Superconducting Phase Diagram of the LaAlO3—SrTiO3 Interface journal July 2015
Two-Gap Superconductivity in LaNiGa 2 with Nonunitary Triplet Pairing and Even Parity Gap Symmetry journal July 2016
Highly crystalline 2D superconductors journal December 2016
Spin to Charge Conversion at Room Temperature by Spin Pumping into a New Type of Topological Insulator: α -Sn Films journal March 2016
Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance and Anomalous Seebeck Effects in Topological Insulators journal June 2014
Experimental Observation of Dirac-like Surface States and Topological Phase Transition in Pb 1 x Sn x Te ( 111 ) Films journal May 2014
Epitaxial growth and quantum well states study of Sn thin films on Sn induced Si(111)- ( 2 3 × 2 3 ) R 30 ° surface journal May 2008
Large-Gap Quantum Spin Hall Insulators in Tin Films journal September 2013
Two-dimensional time-reversal-invariant topological superconductivity in a doped quantum spin-Hall insulator journal August 2014
Large-gap quantum spin Hall states in decorated stanene grown on a substrate journal August 2015
Hydrogenated ultra-thin tin films predicted as two-dimensional topological insulators journal November 2014
Prediction of Near-Room-Temperature Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect on Honeycomb Materials journal December 2014
Two-dimensional time-reversal-invariant topological superconductivity in a doped quantum spin Hall insulator text January 2014
Prediction of Near-Room-Temperature Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect on Honeycomb Materials text January 2014
Epitaxial Growth of Two-Dimensional Stanene text January 2015
Nature of the Quantum Metal in a Two-Dimensional Crystalline Superconductor text January 2015
Highly crystalline 2D superconductors text January 2017
Limits of the upper critical field in dirty two-gap superconductors text January 2007
Elemental Topological Insulator with Tunable Fermi Level: Strained α -Sn on InSb(001) journal October 2013
Observation of Quantum Dissipation in the Vortex State of a Highly Disordered Superconducting Thin Film journal February 1996
Creation and control of a two-dimensional electron liquid at the bare SrTiO3 surface text January 2010
A review of two-band superconductivity: materials and effects on the thermodynamic and reversible mixed-state properties text January 2014
On the origin of critical temperature enhancement in atomically-thin superconductors text January 2017

Cited By (36)

Thermal Stability Enhancement in Epitaxial Alpha Tin Films by Strain Engineering journal August 2019
Stretch-Driven Increase in Ultrahigh Thermal Conductance of Hydrogenated Borophene and Dimensionality Crossover in Phonon Transmission journal June 2018
Realizing an Epitaxial Decorated Stanene with an Insulating Bandgap journal July 2018
Recent Advances in Growth of Novel 2D Materials: Beyond Graphene and Transition Metal Dichalcogenides journal July 2018
Van der Waals Heteroepitaxial Growth of Monolayer Sb in a Puckered Honeycomb Structure journal December 2018
Electronic Band Engineering in Elemental 2D Materials journal August 2018
A Perspective on Recent Advances in 2D Stanene Nanosheets journal August 2019
Stanene: A Promising Material for New Electronic and Spintronic Applications journal August 2019
2D Elemental Nanomaterials Beyond Graphene journal June 2019
The Xenes Generations: A Taxonomy of Epitaxial Single‐Element 2D Materials journal September 2019
Observation of superconductivity in structure-selected Ti2O3 thin films journal June 2018
Near-zero-index materials for photonics journal September 2019
Classifying superconductivity in Moiré graphene superlattices journal January 2020
Structural prediction of stabilized atomically thin tin layers journal May 2019
Design and characterization of novel polymorphs of single-layered tin-sulfide for direction-dependent thermoelectric applications using first-principles approaches journal January 2019
Kinetic pathways towards mass production of single crystalline stanene on topological insulator substrates journal January 2018
Stanene nanomeshes as anode materials for Na-ion batteries journal January 2018
Topological phase transition induced by p x,y and p z band inversion in a honeycomb lattice journal January 2019
Two- and one-dimensional quantum spin Hall states in stanene-functionalized GaTe and InTe matrices journal January 2019
Pulsed-laser deposition of InSe thin films for the detection of thickness-dependent bandgap modification journal December 2018
A van der Waals epitaxial growth of ultrathin two-dimensional Sn film on graphene covered Cu(111) substrate journal September 2019
Group-IV 2D materials beyond graphene on nonmetal substrates: Challenges, recent progress, and future perspectives journal December 2019
Tuning spin–orbit coupling in 2D materials for spintronics: a topical review journal March 2019
Angular dependence of the upper critical field in randomly restacked 2D superconducting nanosheets journal December 2018
Epitaxial growth and electronic properties of few-layer stanene on InSb (1 1 1) journal October 2019
Boron Phosphide van der Waals p-n Junction via Molecular Adsorption journal November 2019
Electron-phonon coupling in a honeycomb borophene grown on Al(111) surface journal July 2019
Two-dimensional spin-valley locking spin valve journal October 2019
Engineering topological phases in the Luttinger semimetal α -Sn journal May 2018
Type-II Ising Superconductivity in Two-Dimensional Materials with Spin-Orbit Coupling journal September 2019
Fundamentals of Fascinating Graphene Nanosheets: A Comprehensive Study journal March 2019
Quantum Spin Hall Insulators in Tin Films: Beyond Stanene journal December 2019
Classifying Induced Superconductivity in Atomically Thin Dirac-Cone Materials journal September 2019
DC Self-Field Critical Current in Superconductor/Dirac-Cone Material/Superconductor Junctions journal November 2019
The Xenes Generations: A Taxonomy of Epitaxial Single‐Element 2D Materials journal September 2019
p-wave superconductivity in iron-based superconductors journal October 2019

Figures / Tables (10)


Similar Records

Realizing an Epitaxial Decorated Stanene with an Insulating Bandgap
Journal Article · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Advanced Functional Materials · OSTI ID:1438571

First-Principles Assessment of CdTe as a Tunnel Barrier at the α-Sn/InSb Interface
Journal Article · Mon Mar 20 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces · OSTI ID:1438571

First-Principles Calculations of van der Waals and Spin Orbit Effects on the Two-Dimensional Topological Insulator Stanene and Stanene on Ge(111) Substrate
Journal Article · Wed Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism · OSTI ID:1438571