Figure 1

Sample characterization and crystallographic structure of Ta₃Pd₃Te₁₄.

(a) Morphology of a batch of the as-grown Ta₃Pd₃Te₁₄ crystals under an optical microscope (left panel) and photographs of the crystals on a millimeter-grid paper (right panel). (b) Single-crystal X-ray diffraction pattern. The inset shows the third inflections in X-ray diffraction pattern for both Ta₃Pd₃Te₁₄ and Ta₄Pd₃Te₁₆. (c) A typical energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum with electron beams focused on the selected area (marked in the inset) of the crystals. A small amount of the element Al comes from the sample holder. (d) Crystal structure of Ta₃Pd₃Te₁₄ projected along the [010] direction. An individual layer of Ta₃Pd₃Te₁₄ is shown in the left panel of (e). The right panel of (e) is a piece of needle-like Ta₃Pd₃Te₁₄ crystal under an optical microscope, from which the layered morphology can be clearly identified. (f) Projection view of one atomic layer of Ta₃Pd₃Te₁₄ (left) and Ta₄Pd₃Te₁₆ (right) along the b axis.