On the peculiarities of galvanomagnetic effects in high magnetic fields in twisting bicrystals of the 3D topological insulator Bi1–x Sb x (0.07 ≤ x ≤ 0.2)

Abstract

Galvanomagnetic effects in twisting bicrystals of Bi1 – xSbx alloys (0.07 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) at low temperatures and in magnetic fields up to 40 T are studied. It is found that, at small crystallite misorientation angles, the semiconductor–semimetal transition is induced in the central layer (~60-nm-thick) and two adjacent layers (each ~20-nm-thick) of the interface at different values of ultraquantum magnetic field. Bicrystals with large misorientation angles, being located in strong magnetic fields, exhibit quantum oscillations of the magnetoresistance and the Hall effect, thus indicating that the density of states is higher and charge carriers are heavier in the adjacent layers of the interfaces than in the crystallites. Our results show also that twisting bicrystals contain regions with different densities of quantum electronic states, which are determined by the crystallite misorientation angle and magnetic-field strength.