Pressure induced metallization and loss of surface magnetism in FeSi

TL;DR

This study investigates how applying high pressure to FeSi transforms its bulk from a semiconductor to a metal and causes the loss of surface magnetism, revealing a strong link between surface states and bulk properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates that pressure induces a sharp transition in FeSi from a semiconducting to a metallic state and suppresses surface magnetism, highlighting the connection between surface states and bulk electronic structure.

Findings

Bulk energy gap closes abruptly at ~10 GPa

Surface magnetism and hysteresis vanish at critical pressure

Metallic phase persists after pressure release

Abstract

Single crystalline FeSi samples with a conducting surface state (CSS) were studied under high pressure ($\textit{P}$) and magnetic field ($\textit{B}$) by means of electrical resistance ($\textit{R}$) measurements to explore how the bulk semiconducting state and the surface state are tuned by the application of pressure. We found that the energy gap ($\Delta$) associated with the semiconducting bulk phase begins to close abruptly at a critical pressure ($P_{cr}$) of ~10 GPa and the bulk material becomes metallic with no obvious sign of any emergent phases or non-Fermi liquid behavior in $\textit{R}$($\textit{T}$) in the neighborhood of $P_{cr}$ above 3 K. Moreover, the metallic phase appears to remain at near-ambient pressure upon release of the pressure. Interestingly, the hysteresis in the $\textit{R}$($\textit{T}$) curve associated with the magnetically ordered CSS decreases with pressure and vanishes at $P_{cr}$, while the slope of the $\textit{R}$($\textit{B}$) curve, d$\textit{R}$/d$\textit{B}$, which has a negative value for $\textit{P}$ < $P_{cr}$, decreases in magnitude with $\textit{P}$ and changes sign at $P_{cr}$. Thus, the CSS and the corresponding two-dimensional magnetic order collapse at $P_{cr}$ where the energy gap $\Delta$ of the bulk material starts to close abruptly, revealing the connection between the CSS and the semiconducting bulk state in FeSi.