Topological Luttinger semimetallic phase accompanied with surface states realized in silicon

By means of systematically first-principles calculations and model analysis, a complete phase diagram of the body-centered silicon (BC8-Si) via lattice constant a and internal atomic coordinate x is explored, which demonstrates that BC8-Si is a topological Luttinger semimetal (LSM) accompanied with topologically nontrivial surface states, and the electronic properties of BC8-Si can be further tuned to a normal insulator or topological Dirac semimetal by very tiny changing of a and x. These results successfully explain the contradictory transport reports of BC8-Si. More importantly, the topological surface states in the LSM phase fill in the gap between the topological matters and silicon, which provide an opportunity to integrate the topological quantum devices and silicon chips together.

Automated summary

By using calculations and analysis, a complete phase diagram of body-centered silicon has been explored and a topological Luttinger semimetal state with nontrivial surface states has been discovered. The electronic properties of silicon can also be tuned to a normal insulator or topological Dirac semimetal by tiny changes.