Electronic and Structural Behavior of Basal-Plane Cd₃As₂ Thin Films According to Targeted Lattice Strain

Basal-plane Cd₃As₂ is grown via molecular beam epitaxy on a series of metamorphic Al_xIn_1-xSb (001) buffers with compositions tuned to induce biaxial strain up to ±1.0%. The structural properties of these films are compared using x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. Electronic properties are probed via Van der Pauw measurements. Films with topological insulating (30 nm) and topological semimetallic (100 nm) character are additionally compared for the effect of interfacial strain on surface-dominant vs. mixed surface/bulk transport.