Structural and electronic properties of highly doped topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ crystals

We present a study of the structural and electronic properties of highly doped topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ single crystals synthesized by the Bridgman method. Lattice structural characterizations by X-ray diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the high quality of the as-grown single crystals. The topological surface states in the electronic band structure were directly re- vealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Transport measurements showed that the conduction was dominated by the bulk carriers and confirmed a previously observed bulk quantum Hall effect in such highly doped Bi₂Se₃ samples. We briefly discuss several possible strategies of reducing bulk conductance.