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Title: Calculation of room temperature conductivity and mobility in tin-based topological insulator nanoribbons

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4901063· OSTI ID:22402589
 [1]
  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W Campbell Rd. RL10, Richardson, Texas 75080 (United States)

Monolayers of tin (stannanane) functionalized with halogens have been shown to be topological insulators. Using density functional theory (DFT), we study the electronic properties and room-temperature transport of nanoribbons of iodine-functionalized stannanane showing that the overlap integral between the wavefunctions associated to edge-states at opposite ends of the ribbons decreases with increasing width of the ribbons. Obtaining the phonon spectra and the deformation potentials also from DFT, we calculate the conductivity of the ribbons using the Kubo-Greenwood formalism and show that their mobility is limited by inter-edge phonon backscattering. We show that wide stannanane ribbons have a mobility exceeding 10{sup 6} cm{sup 2}/Vs. Contrary to ordinary semiconductors, two-dimensional topological insulators exhibit a high conductivity at low charge density, decreasing with increasing carrier density. Furthermore, the conductivity of iodine-functionalized stannanane ribbons can be modulated over a range of three orders of magnitude, thus rendering this material extremely interesting for classical computing applications.

OSTI ID:
22402589
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 17; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English