Nucleation and growth dynamics of MBE-grown topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films on Si (111)

Topological insulator Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on Si (111) substrates. The structural properties of the ultra-thin films and their evolution in morphology during the growth have been investigated. The growth starts by a nucleation of separate islands and subsequently turns into a layer-by-layer growth mode. Despite this, the grown film is found to be single crystalline and fully relaxed from the first atomic layer.