Effect of doping with rare-earth elements (Eu, Tb, Dy) on the conductivity of Bi2Te3 layered single crystals

Abstract

The temperature dependences of the resistivity in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the layer plane in the range of temperatures T = 5–300 K and the Hall and transverse magnetoresistance effects (magnetic fields <80 kOe, T = 5 K) are studied for doped and undoped Bi₂Te₃ layered single crystals. It is shown that, upon the doping of Bi₂Te₃ crystals with atoms of rare-earth elements (Eu, Tb, Dy), the resistivity in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the layer plane in Bi₂Te₃ increases. The increase in the resistivity is caused mainly by a decrease in the charge-carrier mobility because of an increased contribution of charge-carrier scattering at defects to scattering processes. The charge-carrier concentrations and mobilities as well as the Hall factor defined by the anisotropy of the effective masses and by the orientation of ellipsoids with respect to the crystallographic axes are estimated.