Honeycomb Lattice in Metal-Rich Chalcogenide Fe2Te Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51788104, 11604366, 11774192, and 11634007), and the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFA0304600 and 2018YFA0305603)

Two-dimensional honeycomb crystals have inspired intense research interest for their novel properties and great potential in electronics and optoelectronics. Here, through molecular beam epitaxy on SrTiO₃(001), we report successful epitaxial growth of metal-rich chalcogenide Fe₂Te, a honeycomb-structured film that has no direct bulk analogue, under Te-limited growth conditions. The structural morphology and electronic properties of Fe₂Te are explored with scanning tunneling microscopy and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which reveal electronic bands cross the Fermi level and nearly flat bands. Moreover, we find a weak interfacial interaction between Fe₂Te and the underlying substrates, paving a newly developed alternative avenue for honeycomb-based electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]