Crystal growth and characterization of CaTe: A potential topological material

Abstract

High-quality single crystals of CaTe are grown using the high temperature solution-growth method employing Te as the flux. The grown crystals were characterized using single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray Laue diffraction, scanning electron microscope and the energy dispersive X-rays analysis for composition mapping. CaTe is an insulator, crystalizing with a cubic NaCl-type of structure. The low-temperature specific heat of CaTe exhibits a peak in versus temperature T plot near T = 20 K with a conspicuous absence of the Debye regime down to T = 2 K.