학술논문

On the origin of two-dimensional electron gas states at the surface of topological insulators.
Document Type
Article
Source
JETP Letters. Sep2011, Vol. 94 Issue 2, p106-111. 6p. 4 Graphs.
Subject
*ELECTRON gas
*ELECTRIC insulators & insulation
*ELECTRONIC structure
*SURFACES (Physics)
*SEMICONDUCTORS
*TOPOLOGY
*VAN der Waals forces
*PHOTOEMISSION
Language
ISSN
0021-3640
Abstract
The ab initio calculations of the electronic structure in the bulk and at the (0001) surface of narrow-band BiSe, SbTe, SbSTe, and SbSeTe semiconductors have been performed. It has been shown that ternary compounds SbSTe and SbSeTe, as well as the previously known compounds BiSe and SbTe, are three-dimensional topological insulators. The influence of the subsurface van der Waals gap expansion on the surface electronic structure of these compounds has been analyzed. It has been shown that this expansion leads to the formation of new (trivial) surface states, namely a parabolic state in the conduction band and an M-shaped state in the valence band. These results explain the phenomena discovered recently in photoemission experiments and reveal the nature of new states that are caused by the adsorption of atoms on the surfaces of the layered topological insulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]