Growth of multilayers of Bi2Se3/ZnSe: Heteroepitaxial interface formation and strain

Multilayers of Bi2Se3/ZnSe with the periodicity of a few nanometers were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on Si(111). While epitaxial growth of Bi2Se3 on ZnSe proceeded by two-dimensional nucleation, ZnSe growth on Bi2Se3 showed the three-dimensional growth front. Therefore, the two complementary interfaces of Bi2Se3/ZnSe were asymmetric in morphological properties. Strain-relaxation rates were found to differ between epitaxial ZnSe and Bi2Se3, which could be attributed to the specific growth modes and the properties of Bi2Se3 and ZnSe surfaces. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3548865]