Transport Properties and Observation of Semimetal-Semiconductor Transition in Bi-based Nanowires

Temperature-dependent resistance measurements of Bi-related nanowire arrays with different wire diameters and Sb concentrations are performed. The variation in the measured R ( T ) curves of these nanowires is closely related to the unique semimetal-semiconductor transition in Bi, and the results are explained by theoretical simulations. It is found that the special feature of the maximum in the resistance ratio R (10 K)/ R (100 K) can be employed to experimentally identify the conditions for the semimetal-semiconductor transition.