Electronic band structure, doping, and defects in the semiconducting Half Heusler compound CoTiSb

We report transport and electronic band structure measurements on epitaxial films of the Half Heusler compound CoTiSb. CoTiSb belongs to the family of Half Heuslers with 18 valence electrons per formula unit that are predicted to be semiconducting despite being composed of all metallic components. Here the CoTiSb films were grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a lattice matched InAlAs buffer. The films are epitaxial and single crystalline, as measured by reflection high-energy electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction. Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy and temperature-dependent transport measurements reveal that the films are semiconducting, with unintentionally doped carrier concentrations comparable to that of highly doped conventional compound semiconductors. These carrier concentrations can be modulated by doping with Sn. The band structure of the films was measured by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy at the MAX-Lab Synchrotron facility. The bulk bands are in general agreement with density functional theory calculations, with a valence band maximum at $\Gamma $ and surface states within the bulk band gap. The effects of defects are explored in order to explain the ARPES results.