Observation of 2D transport in Sn- and In-doped Bi2−xSbxTe3−ySey topological insulator

Abstract

Here we report magnetotransport properties of Bi2−xSbxTe3−ySey (BSTS), In- and Sn-doped BSTS single crystals, grown through modified Bridgeman technique. In- and Sn-doped BSTS single crystals show bulk insulation in temperature dependency resistivity measurements and are confirmed from the observed impurity band mediated three dimensional variable-range hopping behavior at low temperatures over virgin BSTS with metallic bulk. Magnetotransport measurements for BSTS and Sn-doped BSTS reveal a zero field sharp positive cusp and is identified as two dimensional (2D) weak antilocalization (WAL) effect, which is the consequence of π Berry phase of the carriers. For In-doped BSTS single crystals, crossover is identified from WAL to weak localization with field variation at low temperatures and also with an increase in temperature from 2 K. For all the single crystals, phase coherence lengths (lϕ) are determined by fitting low field magnetotransport data with Hikami–Larkin–Nagaoka equation. Temperature dependency of phase coherence lengths is described with 2D electron–electron (e–e) and 2D electron–phonon (e–p) interactions for virgin and In-doped BSTS single crystals while for Sn-doped BSTS specimen lϕ(T) follows T−0.53 power law.