Robustness of negative low-field magnetoconductance in ultrathin topological insulator films

Abstract

In the ultrathin films of three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs), modification of the Berry phase caused by surface hybridization was predicted to allow for a crossover between weak antilocalization (WAL) and weak localization (WL). Here we report on a systematic study of the magnetotransport properties of ${({\mathrm{Bi}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Sb}}_{x})}_{2}{\mathrm{Te}}_{3}$ (BST) thin films with well-controlled thickness, doping level, and chemical potential. We found that the sign of magnetoconductance in perpendicular magnetic field remains negative in all circumstances, suggesting absence of global WL in the ultrathin BST films. This is attributed to long-range disorder, as well as conductance corrections by quantum interference and electron-electron interaction. Our work shows that the electron transport in ultrathin TIs is distinctively different from the WAL regime in the systems with symplectic symmetry, and the WL or weak insulator regime associated with the orthogonal symmetry class.