Indium substitution effect on the topological crystalline insulator
family (Pb1−x​Snx​)1−y​Iny​Te: Topological and
superconducting properties
Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) have been of great interest in the
area of condensed matter physics. We investigated the effect of indium
substitution on the crystal structure and transport properties in the TCI
system (Pb1−x​Snx​)1−y​Iny​Te. For samples with a tin
concentration x≤50%, the low-temperature resisitivities show a dramatic
variation as a function of indium concentration: with up to ~2% indium doping
the samples show weak-metallic behavior, similar to their parent compounds;
with ~6% indium doping, samples have true bulk-insulating resistivity and
present evidence for nontrivial topological surface states; with higher indium
doping levels, superconductivity was observed, with a transition temperature,
Tc, positively correlated to the indium concentration and reaching as high as
4.7 K. We address this issue from the view of bulk electronic structure
modified by the indium-induced impurity level that pins the Fermi level. The
current work summarizes the indium substitution effect on (Pb,Sn)Te, and
discusses the topological and superconducting aspects, which can be provide
guidance for future studies on this and related systems.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure