Abstract
This review briefly describes the development of synthetic topological insulator materials in the application of advanced electronic devices. As a new class of quantum matter, topological insulators with insulating bulk and conducting surface states have attracted attention in more and more research fields other than condensed matter physics due to their intrinsic physical properties, which provides an excellent basis for novel nanoelectronic, optoelectronic, and spintronic device applications. In comparison to the mechanically exfoliated samples, the newly emerging topological insulator nanostructures prepared with various synthetical approaches are more intriguing because the conduction contribution of the surface states can be significantly enhanced due to the larger surface-to-volume ratio, better manifesting the unique properties of the gapless surface states. So far, these synthetic topological insulator nanostructures have been implemented in different electrically accessible device platforms via electrical, magnetic and optical characterizations for material investigations and device applications, which will be introduced in this review.
Highlights
In the past century, fundamental scientists and physicists have never stopped searching for new elementary particles
Topological insulator is different from superconductors and magnets in that it has a topological order which is protected by time-reversal symmetry
Unlike the quantum Hall (QH) state, which requires the presence of a strong magnetic field, topological insulators can be observed without magnetic field
Summary
Fundamental scientists and physicists have never stopped searching for new elementary particles. The spin-orbit coupling with heavy elements such as Hg and Bi induces magnetic field during the electron movement in 2D topological insulators. This is known as the quantum spin Hall (QSH) state, which was first experimentally observed in Electronics 2018, 7, 225; doi:10.3390/electronics7100225 www.mdpi.com/journal/electronics. Mechanical exfoliation has made the preparation of topological insulator samples easier with simple process and low cost, the challenge for realizing state-of-the-art device and manipulating the surface states of the exfoliated flakes still lies in minimizing the bulk conduction, which is basically originated from the chalcogen vacancies or anti-site defects. We review the development of synthetic approaches for topological insulators nanostructures and their applications in novel nanoelectronic, spintronic and optoelectronic devices
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