Abstract
We report transport studies on a three-dimensional, 70-nm-thick HgTe layer, which is strained by epitaxial growth on a CdTe substrate. The strain induces a band gap in the otherwise semimetallic HgTe, which thus becomes a three-dimensional topological insulator. Contributions from residual bulk carriers to the transport properties of the gapped HgTe layer are negligible at mK temperatures. As a result, the sample exhibits a quantized Hall effect that results from the 2D single cone Dirac-like topological surface states.
- Received 14 January 2011
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.126803
© 2011 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Bulk carriers cannot take the strain
Published 22 March 2011
Mercury telluride—a semimetal in bulk—shows signs of becoming a topological insulator under strain.
See more in Physics