Single Crystalline Nanostructures of Topological CrystallineInsulator SnTe with Distinct Facets and Morphologies.

Topologicalcrystalline insulators (TCIs) are a new class of topologicalmaterials that possess unique metallic surface states protected bycrystalline mirror symmetry. Their topological surface propertiesare expected to strongly depend on the surface orientation. By combiningdensity functional theory (DFT) calculations and synthesis experiments,we demonstrate the controlled growth of single crystalline nanostructuresof the prototypical TCI SnTe with distinct facets and morphologies.Our calculations suggest that the excess energy of the {111} surfacescan be either higher or lower than that of the {100} surfaces, dependingon the stoichiometry, while the {110} is always higher than the {100}.In our synthesis experiment, we qualitatively controlled the stoichiometryby tailoring the growth temperature and obtained two types of singlecrystalline nanowires: smooth nanowires dominated by {100} facetsat high temperatures and zigzag nanowires composed of both {100} and{111} surfaces at low temperatures. Notably, there is no {110} facetin our nanostructures, strongly supporting the DFT calculations. Ourdevice fabrication and electrical characterizations suggest that bothtypes of nanowires are suitable for transport studies of topologicalsurface states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]