Thickness-independent transport in thin (001)-oriented cadmium arsenide films

The three-dimensional Dirac semimetal is a parent phase for a variety of topological phases that can be generated by tuning parameters in material growth or device operation. Notably, it has recently been found that cadmium arsenide, which is ordinarily a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal, can never...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2021-07, Vol.104 (3), p.1, Article 035435
Main Authors: Kealhofer, David A., Goyal, Manik, Pardue, Tyler N., Stemmer, Susanne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arsenides
Cadmium
Carrier density
CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
Dirac semimetal
Electromagnetism
Hall bar
Integer quantum Hall effect
Intermetallic compounds
Molecular beam epitaxy
Quantum Hall effect
Quantum transport
Resistivity measurements
Semiconductor compounds
Thick films
Thickness
Thin films
Topological insulators
Topological materials
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Summary:The three-dimensional Dirac semimetal is a parent phase for a variety of topological phases that can be generated by tuning parameters in material growth or device operation. Notably, it has recently been found that cadmium arsenide, which is ordinarily a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal, can nevertheless realize a three-dimensional topological insulator in (001)-oriented films about 50-nm thick. In this work, we study the quantum Hall effect in thin (001)-oriented cadmium arsenide films, their thickness ranging from 12 to 24 nm. When the carrier density is kept approximately constant across the different films, quantum transport reveals an identical underlying picture. The result is shown to be consistent with the transport's origin in the surface states of a three-dimensional topological insulator, but problematic for a perspective in which the quantum Hall effect originates from the confined subbands of the bulk band structure. These thin-film results complement previous studies of the quantum Hall effect in 50-nm-thick films.
ISSN:2469-9950
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.104.035435