Formation of Fe-Te Nanostructures during in Situ Fe Heavy Doping of Bi2Te3

To study the in situ doping effect upon monotonically increasing dopant concentration, a Bi2Te3 layer doped with Fe up to similar to 6.9% along the growth direction was fabricated by the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique. Its resistance versus temperature curve displays a superconductivity transition at about 12.3 K. Detailed structural and chemical analysis via X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) reveal that this layer consists of two types of unexpected Fe-Te nanostructures: one is FeTe thin layer formed near the surface, and the other is FeTe2 nanorod embedded in the Bi2Te3 layer. Based on the results of further electrical and magnetotransport studies, it is likely that the observed superconductivity originates from the interface between the FeTe nanostructure and the neighboring Bi2Te3 layer. We have addressed the formation mechanisms of the observed nanostructures, which is attributed to the strong reaction between Fe and Te atoms during the growth process. The findings of this study also provide an unusual approach to synthesizing nanostructures via heavy doping if the dopant element is strongly reactive with an element in the host matrix.