Electronic structures and unusually robust bandgap in an ultrahigh-mobility layered oxide semiconductor, Bi₂O₂Se.

Abstract

Semiconductors are essential materials that affect our everyday life in the modern world. Two-dimensional semiconductors with high mobility and moderate bandgap are particularly attractive today because of their potential application in fast, low-power, and ultrasmall/thin electronic devices. We investigate the electronic structures of a new layered air-stable oxide semiconductor, Bi₂O₂Se, with ultrahigh mobility (~2.8 × 10⁵ cm²/V⋅s at 2.0 K) and moderate bandgap (~0.8 eV). Combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy, we mapped out the complete band structures of Bi₂O₂Se with key parameters (for example, effective mass, Fermi velocity, and bandgap). The unusual spatial uniformity of the bandgap without undesired in-gap states on the sample surface with up to ~50% defects makes Bi₂O₂Se an ideal semiconductor for future electronic applications. In addition, the structural compatibility between Bi₂O₂Se and interesting perovskite oxides (for example, cuprate high-transition temperature superconductors and commonly used substrate material SrTiO₃) further makes heterostructures between Bi₂O₂Se and these oxides possible platforms for realizing novel physical phenomena, such as topological superconductivity, Josephson junction field-effect transistor, new superconducting optoelectronics, and novel lasers.