Bulk and surface electronic states in the dosed semimetallic HfTe2

The dosing of layered materials with alkali metals has become a commonly used strategy in ARPES experiments. However, precisely what occurs under such conditions, both structurally and electronically, has remained a matter of debate. Here we perform a systematic study of 1T-${\mathrm{HfTe}}₂$, a prototypical semimetal of the transition metal dichalcogenide family. By utilizing photon energy-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we have investigated the electronic structure of this material as a function of potassium (K) deposition. From the ${k}_z$ maps, we observe the appearance of 2D dispersive bands after electron dosing, with an increasing sharpness of the bands, consistent with the wave-function confinement at the topmost layer. In our highest-dosing cases, a monolayerlike electronic structure emerges, presumably as a result of intercalation of the alkali metal. Here, by bringing the topmost valence band below ${E}_F$, we can directly measure a band overlap of $\ensuremath{\sim}0.2$ eV. However, 3D bulklike states still contribute to the spectra even after considerable dosing. Our work provides a reference point for the increasingly popular studies of the alkali metal dosing of semimetals using ARPES.