Modulated electronic heat capacity of topological crystalline insulator thin films

Abstract

In this paper, we theoretically address the strain and electric field effects on the electronic heat capacity of TCI SnTe (001) thin film with the aid of low-energy Dirac theory, the Green's function technique, and the semi-classical Boltzmann approach. We found that the Schottky anomaly in TCI SnTe (001) thin films decreases with both uniaxial and biaxial strains and the electric field with different decreasing rates. Furthermore, the Schottky temperature does not change with strain, while it fluctuates with the electric field. Our results show that before and after a critical low-temperature, the electronic heat capacity behaves differently. Finally, the results confirm that the electronic heat capacity does not change significantly with strain and electric field at high temperatures due to the thermal effects (quantum effects are quite weak at high enough temperatures). The results may help to understand the exotic thermal phenomena in practical applications.