The transport properties, magnetoresistance, and Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) oscillations of glass-coated Bi0.92Sb0.08 single-crystal wires with diameters of 180 nm to 2.2 mm and the (1011) orientation along the wire axis, which are prepared by liquid phase casting, have been studied. For the first time, it has been found that the energy gap DE increases by a factor of 4 with a decrease in the wire diameter d owing to the manifestation of the quantum size effect. This significant increase in the energy gap can occur under conditions of an energy–momentum linear dispersion relation, which is characteristic of both the gapless state and the surface states of a topological insulator. It has been shown that, in a strong magnetic field at low temperatures, a semiconductor–semimetal transition occurs; it is evident in the temperature dependences of resistance in a magnetic field. An analysis of the SdH oscillations, namely, the phase shift of the Landau levels and the features of the angular dependences of the oscillation periods, suggests that the combination of the manifestation of the topological insulator properties and the quantum size effect leads to the occurrence of new effects in low-dimensional structures, which requires new scientific approaches and applications in microelectronics
Magnetic-Field Dependence of Novel Gap Behavior Related to the Quantum-Size Effect
