Ising Superconductivity and Quantum Phase Transition in Macro-Size Monolayer NbSe2

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 17; no. 11; pp. 6802 - 6807
• Main Authors: Xing, Ying, Zhao, Kun, Shan, Pujia, Zheng, Feipeng, Zhang, Yangwei, Fu, Hailong, Liu, Yi, Tian, Mingliang, Xi, Chuanying, Liu, Haiwen, Feng, Ji, Lin, Xi, Ji, Shuaihua, Chen, Xi, Xue, Qi-Kun, Wang, Jian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 08.11.2017
• Subjects: ultralow temperature and high magnetic field electrical transport; Ising superconductivity; NbSe2; transition-metal dichalcogenides; quantum phase transition (QPT); macro-size monolayer film
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b03026

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have a range of unique physics properties and could be used in the development of electronics, photonics, spintronics, and quantum computing devices. The mechanical exfoliation technique of microsize TMD flakes has attracted particular interest due to its simplicity and cost effectiveness. However, for most applications, large-area and high-quality films are preferred. Furthermore, when the thickness of crystalline films is down to the 2D limit (monolayer), exotic properties can be expected due to the quantum confinement and symmetry breaking. In this paper, we have successfully prepared macro-size atomically flat monolayer NbSe2 films on bilayer graphene terminated surface of 6H-SiC(0001) substrates by a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method. The films exhibit an onset superconducting critical transition temperature (T c onset) above 6 K and the zero resistance superconducting critical transition temperature (T c zero) up to 2.40 K. Simultaneously, the transport measurements at high magnetic fields and low temperatures reveal that the parallel characteristic field B c//(T = 0) is above 5 times of the paramagnetic limiting field, consistent with Zeeman-protected Ising superconductivity mechanism. Besides, by ultralow temperature electrical transport measurements, the monolayer NbSe2 film shows the signature of quantum Griffiths singularity (QGS) when approaching the zero-temperature quantum critical point.