Topological insulators (TI) are becoming one of the most studied classes of novel materials
because of their great potential for applications ranging from spintronics to quantum
computers. To fully integrate TI materials in electronic devices, high-quality epitaxial single-
crystalline phases with sufficiently large bulk bandgaps are necessary. Current efforts have
relied mostly on costly and time-consuming trial-and-error procedures. Here we show that by
defining a reliable and accessible descriptor, which represents the topological robustness or …

Topological insulators (TI) are becoming one of the most studied classes of novel materials
because of their great potential for applications ranging from spintronics to quantum
computers. To fully integrate TI materials in electronic devices, high-quality epitaxial single-
crystalline phases with sufficiently large bulk bandgaps are necessary. Current efforts have
relied mostly on costly and time-consuming trial-and-error procedures. Here we show that by
defining a reliable and accessible descriptor ˆχTI, which represents the topological …