Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 13: Poster

DS 13.54: Poster

Thursday, March 20, 2025, 18:00–20:00, P1

Thickness dependence of transport in thin crystalline FeTe films — •Paul Zhuromskyy, Christian Stenz, and Matthias Wuttig — I. Institute of Physics (IA), RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Iron chalcogenides present an intriguing material class for solid state physics; they have been shown to display antiferromagnetism, tunable superconductivity, inverted phase change behaviour, and unique interface effects when brought into contact with topological insulators. The layered compound FeTe has been predicted to be a topological semimetal. Although it has been the subject of numerous investigations, so far little attention has been given to the effects of nanoscale confinement below a thickness of 100 nm. Besides electrical transport, we have also analyzed optical and vibrational properties with regards to topological effects and phase transitions of FeTe for decreasing film thicknesses, from 80nm down to a few monolayers, and identified inflection points at which the phase transitions and conduction behaviour change due to confinement effects. Due to the importance of interfaces for topologically nontrivial materials, this presents a step towards the understanding of electronic phenomena in iron chalcogenides, as well as finding practical applications for FeTe in nanoelectronics. Our findings reveal that the complexity of solid-state systems makes them challenging to model but offers tunable parameters like quantum confinement to create novel phenomena and materials. Characterizing these dependencies helps uncover new connections and property design opportunities.

Keywords: Iron chalcogenides; Confinement; Topological semimetals; Phase transitions