Quantum size phenomena in bismuth nanostructures

P. 1–1.

Arutyunov K., Sedov E. A., Riikonen K.

Size-dependent quantization of energy spectrum of conducting electrons in solids
leads to oscillating dependence of electronic properties on corresponding
dimension(s) [1]. In conventional metals with typical energy Fermi EF~1 eV and
the charge carrier's effective masses m* of the order of free electron mass m0,
the quantum size phenomena provide noticeable impact only at nanometer
scales. Here we experimentally demonstrate that in single-crystalline semimetal
bismuth nanostructures the electronic conductivity non-monotonously decreases
with reduction of the effective diameter (Fig.1). In samples grown along the
particular crystallographic orientation the electronic conductivity abruptly
increases at scales of about 50 nm due to metal-to-insulator transition mediated
by the quantum confinement effect. The experimental findings are in reasonable
agreement with theory predictions. The quantum-size phenomena should be
taken into consideration to optimize operation of the next generation of ultrasmall
quantum nanoelectronic circuits.

Keywords: мезоскопические структуры, quantum size phenomena, квантовые размерные эффекты, mesoscopic structures

In book

MIPT Conference & International School “Superconducting hybrid nanostructures: physics and application” September 19-26, 2016

Dolgoprudni: [б.и.], 2016.