Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in an individual single-crystalline semimetal bismuth nanowire

Abstract

The magneto-transport properties of an individual single crystalline Bi nanowire grown by a spontaneous growth method are reported. A four-terminal device based on an individual 400-nm-diameter nanowire was successfully fabricated using a plasma etching technique that removed an oxide layer that had formed on the surface of the nanowire. Large transverse ordinary magnetoresistance (1401%) and negative longitudinal ordinary magnetoresistance (-38%) were measured at 2 K. It was observed that the period of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in transverse geometry was 0.074T-1, 0.16T-1 and 0.77T-1, which is in good agreement with those of bulk Bi. However, it was found that the period of SdH oscillation in longitudinal geometry is 0.24T-1, which is larger than the value of 0.16T-1 reported for bulk Bi. The deviation is attributable to the spatial confinement arising from scattering at the nanowire surface boundary.