Detection of Surface States in Quantum Materials ZrTe[sub.2] and TmB[sub.4] by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

• Published in: Condensed matter 2023-01, Vol.8 (1)
• Main Authors: Ale Crivillero, Maria Victoria, Souza, Jean C, Hasse, Vicky, Schmidt, Marcus, Shitsevalova, Natalya, Gabáni, Slavomir, Siemensmeyer, Konrad, Flachbart, Karol, Wirth, Steffen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Superconductors
• ISSN: 2410-3896; 2410-3896
• DOI: 10.3390/condmat8010009

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy (STM/S), with its exceptional surface sensitivity and exquisite energy resolution, is well suited for the investigation of surface states down to atomic length scales. As such, it became an essential tool to probe the surface states of materials, including those with non-trivial topology. One challenge, however, can be the preparation of clean surfaces which allow the study of preferably unchanged surface properties with respect to the bulk amount. Here, we report on the STM/S of two materials, ZrTe[sub.2] and TmB[sub.4]. The former cleaves easily and defects can be examined in detail. However, our STS data can only qualitatively be compared to the results of band structure calculations. In the case of TmB[sub.4], the preparation of suitable surfaces is highly challenging, and atomically flat surfaces (likely of B-termination) were only encountered rarely. We found a large density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level E[sub.F] and a mostly featureless differential conductance near E[sub.F]. Further efforts are required to relate our results to the electronic structure predicted by ab initio calculations.