Surface-dominated conduction in a 6 nm thick Bi2Se3 thin film

Nano Lett. 2012 Mar 14;12(3):1486-90. doi: 10.1021/nl204234j. Epub 2012 Feb 27.

Abstract

We report a direct observation of surface dominated conduction in an intrinsic Bi(2)Se(3) thin film with a thickness of six quintuple layers grown on lattice-matched CdS (0001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations from the topological surface states suggest that the Fermi level falls inside the bulk band gap and is 53 ± 5 meV above the Dirac point, which is in agreement with 70 ± 20 meV obtained from scanning tunneling spectroscopies. Our results demonstrate a great potential of producing genuine topological insulator devices using Dirac Fermions of the surface states, when the film thickness is pushed to nanometer range.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Bismuth / chemistry*
  • Electric Conductivity
  • Materials Testing
  • Membranes, Artificial*
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Nanostructures / ultrastructure*
  • Particle Size
  • Selenium / chemistry*
  • Surface Properties

Substances

  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Selenium
  • Bismuth