Epitaxial growth of TiSe2/TiO2 heterostructure

Here we report that TiSe2 thin films can be epitaxially grown on TiO2 substrates despite different lattice symmetry between the two materials. The TiSe2 thin films can be prepared on TiO2 via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in two ways: by conventional co-deposition using selenium and titanium sources, and by evaporating just selenium on reconstructed surfaces of TiO2. Both growth methods yield crystalline thin films with similar electronic band structures. TiSe2 films on TiO2 substrates exhibit large electron doping and a lack of charge density wave (CDW) order, which is different from both bulk single crystal TiSe2 and TiSe2 thin films on graphene. These phenomena can be explained by selenium vacancies in the TiSe2 films, which naturally occur when these films are grown on TiO2 substrates. Our successful growth of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) films on a transition metal oxide (TMO) substrate provides a platform to further tune the electrical and optical properties of TMDC thin films.