Ding Xinkai, Ge Yongheng, Jia Yinglu, Gou Gaoyang, Zhu Ziming, Zeng Xiao Cheng
Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, and State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an710049, China.
Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Structures and Quantum Control of Ministry of Education, Department of Physics and Synergetic Innovation Center for Quantum Effects and Applications, Hunan Normal University, Changsha410081, China.
ACS Nano. 2022 Dec 27;16(12):21546-21554. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.2c10387. Epub 2022 Nov 30.
Semimetallic two-dimensional (2D) Dirac materials beyond graphene, especially 2D materials with robust Dirac points against the spin-orbit coupling (SOC), are still highly sought. Herein, we theoretically demonstrate the InBi monolayer as a long-sought 2D Dirac material whose exotic Dirac Fermionic states cannot be gapped out by SOC. The InBi monolayer with the litharge crystal structure possesses not only 4-fold band degeneracy, linear energy dispersion, and ultrahigh Fermi velocity in the order of 10 m/s, but also spontaneous ferroelasticity that can lead to the orthorhombic lattice deformation and semimetallic electronic structure. Specifically, the symmetry protected spin-orbit Dirac points in 2D InBi are located at the Brillouin Zone (BZ) boundary and near the Fermi level in energy. More importantly, with coexisting spin-orbit Dirac points and spontaneous ferroelasticity, the InBi monolayer exhibits an additional advantage for engineering Dirac Fermionic states by ferroelastic (FE) strain. Energy levels of Dirac points are strongly coupled to FE strain, and the semimetallic electronic structure of the InBi monolayer is also susceptible to the FE strain induced carrier self-doping effect. Depending on the strain orientation within the InBi monolayer, electron and hole Fermi pockets will develop along the two planar directions, leading to the characteristic transport coefficients (as evidenced by our transport simulations based on Boltzmann formalism) for future experimental detection. FE strain tunable Dirac Fermionic states together with the carrier self-doping effect will benefit future development of ultrathin electronic devices with both high carrier mobility and controllable charge conductivities.
除石墨烯之外的半金属二维(2D)狄拉克材料,尤其是具有抵抗自旋轨道耦合(SOC)的稳健狄拉克点的二维材料,仍然备受追捧。在此,我们从理论上证明了InBi单层是一种长期以来寻找的二维狄拉克材料,其奇异的狄拉克费米子态不会因SOC而带隙化。具有密陀僧晶体结构的InBi单层不仅具有四重能带简并、线性能量色散和高达10 m/s量级的超高费米速度,还具有自发铁弹性,可导致正交晶格变形和半金属电子结构。具体而言,二维InBi中受对称性保护的自旋轨道狄拉克点位于布里渊区(BZ)边界且在能量上靠近费米能级。更重要的是,由于自旋轨道狄拉克点和自发铁弹性共存,InBi单层在通过铁弹性(FE)应变调控狄拉克费米子态方面展现出额外优势。狄拉克点的能级与FE应变强烈耦合,InBi单层的半金属电子结构也易受FE应变诱导的载流子自掺杂效应影响。根据InBi单层内的应变取向,电子和空穴费米口袋将沿两个平面方向形成,从而产生特征输运系数(正如我们基于玻尔兹曼形式的输运模拟所证明的那样)以供未来实验检测。FE应变可调的狄拉克费米子态以及载流子自掺杂效应将有利于未来兼具高载流子迁移率和可控电荷电导率的超薄电子器件的发展。