We validate the linear dispersion relation and resolve the Dirac cone on the surface of a single Bi 2 Te 3 nanowire via a combination of field-effect and magnetoresistance measurements by which we unambiguously prove the topological insulator nature of the nanowire surface states. Moreover we show that the experimentally determined carrier concentration, mobility and cyclotron mass of the surface states are in excellent agreement with relativistic models. Our method provides a facile way to identify topological insulators that too small for angle-resolved photo emission spectroscopy.
Unambiguous experimental identification of topological insulators (TIs) requires resolving theDirac cone in the band structure of the non-trivial surface states. [1][2][3][4] Charge carriers within the surface states mimic massless Dirac fermions with extremely high mobilities, opening great opportunities for novel information processing devices. Nanowires with a high surface-tovolume ratio are of special interest because the surface state conductivity is expected to overwhelm the parasitic transport through the nanowire bulk. [5][6][7][8][9][10] While the Dirac cone has been directly detected by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) of Bi 2 Te 3 , [11][12][13] 20,37,38 While most of these works focus on reducing the relative contribution to electrical transport from the bulk by enhancing the surface contribution via field-effect, resolving the linear dispersion relation of the surface states has not been attempted so far.Our experiments were performed using a single nanowire device equipped with two electrodes for resistance measurements and a global back gate (figure 1 a). Electrical contacts to the nanowire were prepared via common laser beam lithography and subsequent sputter deposition of Ti/Pt. A highly p-doped silicon chip served as gate with a 200 nm insulating buffer layer of thermal SiO 2 on top. Standard low frequency lock-in techniques were performed in at low temperatures with a magnetic field B applied perpendicular to the current direction along the nanowire axis. Comparing two-terminal and four-terminal measurements reveal that the contact resistances to the nanowire are negligible. Linear IV-curves (SI Fig. 1) demonstrate that the electrical contacts ore ohmic. The Fermi energy of the nanowire was tuned by applying gate voltages between -10 and 30 V in 5 V steps, using a DC voltage source. Bi 2 Te 3 nanowires were grown in a single zone tube furnace on Si/SiO 2 wafers seeded by 30 nm colloidal diameter Au particles, prior to 100 h annealing in a tellurium rich atmosphere at 250 °C. Further details on the nanowire growth as well as on electrical and on structural characterization can be found elsewhere. 8,40 We present data for a single-crystalline, For data analysis we will concentrate on the SdH contribution 'R, which we obtain by subtracting the smooth bulk background and the WAL contribution from R (Fig. 1 d).We observe two dominant transport channels in the SdH spectra by tuning the gate volt...