Epitaxial growth and electronic properties of mixed valence YbAl{sub 3} thin films

Journal Article · Thu Jul 21 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4958336· OSTI ID:22597766

Chatterjee, Shouvik ^[1]; Sung, Suk Hyun ^[2]; Baek, David J. ^[3]; Kourkoutis, Lena F. ^[2]; Schlom, Darrell G. ^[4]; Shen, Kyle M. ^[1]

---

1. Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)
2. School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)
3. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)
4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)

We report the growth of thin films of the mixed valence compound YbAl{sub 3} on MgO using molecular-beam epitaxy. Employing an aluminum buffer layer, epitaxial (001) films can be grown with sub-nm surface roughness. Using x-ray diffraction, in situ low-energy electron diffraction, and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, we establish that the films are ordered in the bulk as well as at the surface. Our films show a coherence temperature of 37 K, comparable to that reported for bulk single crystals. Photoelectron spectroscopy reveals contributions from both f{sup 13} and f{sup 12} final states establishing that YbAl{sub 3} is a mixed valence compound and shows the presence of a Kondo Resonance peak near the Fermi-level.

• OSTI ID: 22597766
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 120; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ALUMINIUM
BUFFERS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CRYSTAL GROWTH
ELECTRON DIFFRACTION
FERMI LEVEL
LAYERS
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
MOLECULAR BEAMS
MONOCRYSTALS
PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ROUGHNESS
SURFACES
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
VALENCE
X-RAY DIFFRACTION