Electronic Transport in a Three-dimensional Network of 1-D Bismuth Quantum Wires

TL;DR

This study investigates the electronic transport properties of a dense network of 6 nm bismuth wires in porous glass, revealing localization effects and electron interactions that influence their semiconductor behavior at low temperatures.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of localization and electron-electron interactions in 1D bismuth wires, challenging the expected semimetal-to-semiconductor transition.

Findings

Resistance increases as temperature decreases, following a ln(1/T) behavior below 4 K.

Magnetoresistance data support localization and electron-electron interaction theories.

Surface effects and carrier density influence the observed electronic behavior.

Abstract

The resistance R of a high density network of 6 nm diameter Bi wires in porous Vycor glass is studied in order to observe its expected semiconductor behavior. R increases from 300 K down to 0.3 K. Below 4 K, where R varies approximately as ln(1/T), the order-of-magnitude of the resistance rise, as well as the behavior of the magnetoresistance are consistent with localization and electron-electron interaction theories of a one-dimensional disordered conductor in the presence of strong spin-orbit scattering. We show that this behaviour and the surface-enhanced carrier density may mask the proposed semimetal-to-semiconductor transition for quantum Bi wires.