Electronic and crystalline structures of zero band-gap PdLuBi thin films grown epitaxially on MgO(100)

Thin films of the proposed topological insulator PdLuBi - a Heusler compound with the C1b structure - were prepared on Ta-Mo-buffered MgO(100) substrates by co-sputtering from PdBi2 and Lu targets. Epitaxial growth of high-quality PdLuBi films was confirmed by X-ray spectrometry and reflection high-energy electron diffraction. The root-mean-square roughness of the films was as low as 1.45 nm, although the films were deposited at high temperature. The film composition is close to the ideal stoichiometric ratio. The valence band spectra of the PdLuBi films, observed by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, correspond perfectly to the ab-initio-calculated density of states.