High and magnetic-field-dependent surface carriers mobility in 3D topological insulators without bulk states

Abstract

By applying the conventional two-liquid model to the magnetoresistivity tensor, we reveal a record-high carrier mobility for surface states in tetradymite topological insulators (TIs) ∼20 000 cm2/V s in both bulk crystals and thin flakes of Sn-Bi1.1Sb0.9Te2S. Bulk crystals of this 3D TI exhibit a transition from bulk to surface-dominated conductivity below 100 K, whereas in thin flakes, bulk conductivity is suppressed at even higher temperatures. Our data therefore suggest that a key ingredient for elevated mobility is the absence of bulk carriers at the Fermi level. A fingerprint of the high-mobility carriers, i.e., a steep low-field magnetoresistance along with a strong Hall effect nonlinearity below 1 T, signifies the presence of at least two surface-related carrier species, even when bulk states are frozen out. To explain the magnetoresistance and the Hall effect in a wider range of magnetic fields (>1 T), one must assume that the carrier mobility drops with the field. The influence of Zeeman splitting on mobility and the contribution of anomalous Hall conductivity provide a much better description of the magnetoresistance and the nonlinearity of the Hall coefficient. Our data call for a revision of the surface state mobility in 3D TIs.