Extraordinary Bulk Insulating Behavior in the Strongly Correlated Materials FeSi and FeSb${}_2$

Abstract

4$f$ electron-based topological Kondo insulators have long been researched for their potential to conduct electric current via protected surface states, while simultaneously exhibiting unusually robust insulating behavior in their interiors. To this end, we have investigated the electrical transport of the 3$d$-based correlated insulators FeSi and FeSb${}_2$, which have exhibited enough similarities to their $f$ electron cousins to warrant investigation. By using a double-sided Corbino disk transport geometry, we show unambiguous evidence of surface conductance in both of these Fe-based materials. In addition, by using a 4-terminal Corbino inverted resistance technique, we extract the bulk resistivity as a function of temperature. Similar to topological Kondo insulator SmB${}_6$, the bulk resistivity of FeSi and FeSb${}_2$ are confirmed to exponentially increase by up to 9 orders of magnitude from room temperature to the lowest accessible temperature. This demonstrates that these materials are excellent bulk insulators, providing an ideal platform for studying correlated 2D physics.

arXiv comment7 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Disordered 2D ferromagnetism at the surface of FeSi
• Anisotropic Surface State Band Splitting and Low Energy Flat Bands in 3d Correlated Topological Kondo Insulator Candidate FeSb${}_2$