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Title: Nonvolatile Solid-State Charged-Polymer Gating of Topological Insulators into the Topological Insulating Regime

Journal Article · · Physical Review Applied
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [1]
  1. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  2. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States). Dept. of Material Science and Engineering
  4. Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

We demonstrate the ability to reduce the carrier concentration of thin films of the topological insulator (TI) Bi2Se3 by utilizing a nonvolatile electrostatic gating via corona charging of electret polymers. Sufficient electric field can be imparted to a polymer-TI bilayer to result in significant electron density depletion, even without the continuous connection of a gate electrode or the chemical modification of the TI. We show that the Fermi level of Bi2Se3 is shifted toward the Dirac point with this method. Using terahertz spectroscopy, we find that the surface chemical potential is lowered into the bulk band gap (approximately 50 meV above the Dirac point and 170 meV below the conduction-band minimum), and it is stabilized in the intrinsic regime while enhancing electron mobility. The mobility of surface state electrons is enhanced to a value as high as approximately 1600 cm2/Vs at 5 K.

Research Organization:
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-07ER46465; DMR-1005398
OSTI ID:
1540704
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1431397
Journal Information:
Physical Review Applied, Vol. 9, Issue 4; ISSN 2331-7019
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 1 work
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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