Semiconductor–metal transition in Bi₂Se₃ caused by impurity doping

Doping a typical topological insulator, Bi₂Se₃, with Ag impurity causes a semiconductor–metal (S-M) transition at 35 K. To deepen the understanding of this phenomenon, structural and transport properties of Ag-doped Bi₂Se₃ were studied. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD) showed no structural transitions but slight shrinkage of the lattice, indicating no structural origin of the transition. To better understand electronic properties of Ag-doped Bi₂Se₃, extended analyses of Hall effect and electric-field effect were carried out. Hall effect measurements revealed that the reduction of resistance was accompanied by increases in not only carrier density but carrier mobility. The field-effect mobility is different for positive and negative gate voltages, indicating that the E_F is located at around the bottom of the bulk conduction band (BCB) and that the carrier mobility in the bulk is larger than that at the bottom surface at all temperatures. The pinning of the E_F at the BCB is found to be a key issue to induce the S-M transition, because the transition can be caused by depinning of the E_F or the crossover between the bulk and the top surface transport.