Low temperature resistivity studies of SmB6: Observation of twodimensional variable-range hopping conductivity

Abstract

We studied electrical resistance of a single-crystalline SmB6 sample with a focus on the region of the "low-temperature resistivity plateau". Our observations did not show any true saturation of the electrical resistance at temperatures below 3 K down to 70 mK. According to our findings, temperature dependence of the electrical conduction in a certain temperature interval above 70 mK can be decomposed into a temperature-independent term and a temperature-activated term that can be described by variable-range hopping formula for two-dimensional systems, exp[-T0/T)^1/3]. Thus, our results indicate importance of hopping type of electrical transport in the near-surface region of SmB6.

accepted at Physica B

References in corpus (4)

• Correlated Topological Insulators with Mixed Valence
• Tuning bulk and surface conduction in topological Kondo insulator SmB6
• Composition-spread Growth and the Robust Topological Surface State of Kondo insulator SmB6 Thin Films
• Signature of surface state coupling in thin films of the topological Kondo insulator SmB${}_6$ from anisotropic magnetoresistance