Author(s): Cai-Zhi Xu, Yang-Hao Chan, Peng Chen, Xiaoxiong Wang, David Flötotto, Joseph Andrew Hlevyack, Guang Bian, Sung-Kwan Mo, Mei-Yin Chou, and Tai-Chang ChiangStanene, a single tin atomic layer akin to graphene, is a quantum spin Hall insulator. Its spin-polarized edge states within the gap would be well suited for spintronic applications, but this attractive property has not been realized because the substrate for supporting stanene in prior experiments leads to a metallic contact that fills the band gap and shorts out the quantum spin Hall channels. By judiciously selecting InSb(111) as the substrate, the resulting system shows a large gap of 0.44 eV well suited for room-temperature device operations. Stanene on InSb(111) is thus a strong contender for next-generation spintronic technology.[Phys. Rev. B 97, 035122] Published Thu Jan 11, 2018
Published in: "Physical Review B".