Imaging ambipolar two-dimensional carriers induced by the spontaneous electric polarization of a polar semiconductor BiTeI

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) mobile carriers are a wellspring of quantum phenomena. Among various 2D-carrier systems, such as field effect transistors and heterostructures, polar materials hold a unique potential; the spontaneous electric polarization in the bulk could generate positive and negative 2D carriers at the surface. Although several experiments have shown ambipolar carriers at the surface of a polar semiconductor BiTeI, their origin is yet to be specified. Here we provide compelling experimental evidences that the ambipolar 2D carriers at the surface of BiTeI are induced by the spontaneous electric polarization. By imaging electron standing waves with spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy, we find that positive or negative carriers with Rashba-type spin splitting emerge at the surface corresponding to the polar directions in the bulk. The electron densities at the surface are constant independently of those in the bulk, corroborating that the 2D carriers are induced by the spontaneous electric polarization. We also successfully image that lateral $p\ensuremath{-}n$ junctions are formed along the boundaries of submicron-scale domains with opposite polar directions. Our study presents a means to endow nonvolatile, spin-polarized, and ambipolar 2D carriers as well as, without elaborate fabrication, lateral $p\ensuremath{-}n$ junctions of those carriers at atomically sharp interfaces.