Crystal Field Effect Induced Topological Crystalline Insulators In Monolayer IV-VI Semiconductors

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) were recently predicted in thin films of the SnTe class of IV-VI semiconductors, which can host metallic edge states protected by mirror symmetry. As thickness decreases, quantum confinement effect will increase and surpass the inverted gap below a critical thickness, turning TCIs into normal insulators. Surprisingly, based on first-principles calculations, here we demonstrate that (001) monolayers of rocksalt IV-VI semiconductors XY (X=Ge, Sn, Pb and Y= S, Se, Te) are 2D TCIs with the fundamental band gap as large as 260 meV in monolayer PbTe, providing a materials platform for realizing two-dimensional Dirac fermion systems with tunable band gap. This unexpected nontrivial topological phase stems from the strong {\it crystal field effect} in the monolayer, which lifts the degeneracy between $p_{x,y}$ and $p_z$ orbitals and leads to band inversion between cation $p_z$ and anion $p_{x,y}$ orbitals. This crystal field effect induced topological phase offers a new strategy to find and design other atomically thin 2D topological materials.

arXiv commentsubmitted in Jan. 2015 and published in Nano Lett

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• Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in Two-Dimensional Square Transition Metal Dichalcogenides
• Two-Dimensional Node-Line Semimetals in a Honeycomb-Kagome Lattice
• Understanding topological phase transition in transition metal dichalcogenides
• Van der Waals Stacking Induced Topological Phase Transition in Layered Ternary Transition Metal Chalcogenides
• Theory of interacting topological crystalline insulators
• Discovering new two-dimensional topological insulators from computational screening
• Exploring Topological Superconductivity in Topological Materials
• Discovery of a two-dimensional topological insulator in SiTe
• Experimental formation of monolayer group-IV monochalcogenides
• Robust Dual Topological Character with Spin-Valley Polarization in a Monolayer of the Dirac Semimetal Na${}_3$Bi
• Detection of second-order topological superconductors by Josephson junctions
• Towards colloidal spintronics through Rashba spin-orbit interaction in lead sulphide nanosheets
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• Topological Zero-Dimensional Defect and Flux States in Three-Dimensional Insulators
• Coupled-layer description of topological crystalline insulators
• Two-dimensional Square Buckled Rashba Lead Chalcogenides
• Two-dimensional topological materials discovery by symmetry-indicator method
• Spin-polarization control driven by a Rashba-type effect breaking the mirror symmetry in two-dimensional dual topological insulators
• Strain-induced gauge and Rashba fields in ferroelectric Rashba lead chalcogenide PbX monolayers (X = S, Se, Te)
• Topological, Valleytronic, and Optical Properties of Monolayer PbS
• Layered Topological Crystalline Insulators
• Robust Room-Temperature Quantum Spin Hall Effect in Methyl-functionalized InBi honeycomb film
• Perovskite ThTaN3: a Large Thermopower Topological Crystalline Insulator
• Robust Large Gap Quantum Spin Hall Insulators in Methyl-functionalized III-Bi Buckled Honeycombs
• Strain Engineering of Spin and Rashba properties in Group-III Monochalcogenide MX (M=Ga, In and X=S, Se, Te) Monolayer
• Interplay between boundary conditions and Wilson's mass in Dirac-like Hamiltonians
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• Glide-symmetric topological crystalline insulator phase in a nonprimitive lattice
• Prediction of Topological Crystalline Insulator and Topological Phase Transitions in Two-dimensional PbTe Films
• Spin-orbit insulating phase in SnTe cubic nanowires: consequences on the topological surface states
• Topological Nonsymmorphic Ribbons out of Symmorphic Bulk
• Simple linear response model for predicting energy band alignment of two-dimensional vertical heterostructure
• Effect of local Coulomb interaction on Majorana corner modes: weak and strong correlation limits
• Interfacial-state coupling induced topological phase transitions in SnTe (110) thin film
• Surface-dependent Majorana vortex phases in topological crystalline insulators
• Effects of layer stacking and strain on electronic transport in 2D tin monoxide
• Dual topological insulator with mirror symmetry protected helical edge states
• Pentagonal nanowires from topological crystalline insulators: a platform for intrinsic core-shell nanowires and higher-order topology
• Topological electronic structure of twin boundaries and twinning superlattices in the SnTe material class
• Strain-induced two-dimensional topological crystalline insulator
• Topological phase diagram of Pb1-xSnxSe1-yTey
• Two-atom-thin topological crystalline insulators lacking out of plane inversion symmetry
• Mirror Chern numbers in the hybrid Wannier representation
• Non-trivial topological valence bands of common diamond and zinc-blende semiconductors
• Engineering Majorana Kramers Pairs In Synthetic High Spin Chern Insulators
• Tunable Competing Electronic Orders in Double Quantum Spin Hall Superlattices
• Direct observation of the electronic structure of even-layer puckered SnTe monolayer films on graphene
• Two-dimensional metallic ferroelectricity in PbTe monolayer by electrostatic doping