Peculiarities of magnetoresistance in InSb whiskers at cryogenic temperatures

•Magnetoresistance in InSb whiskers with impurity concentration near MIT is studied.•SdH oscillations of transverse and longitudinal magnetoresistance are examined.•Mechanisms of electron scattering are determined•Main crystal parameters of InSb whiskers are determined.

The study of the magnetoresistance in InSb whiskers with an impurity concentration in the vicinity to the metal-insulator phase transition, at low temperature range 4.2–77 K, and in fields, with induction up to 14 T, was conducted. The presence of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in both transverse and longitudinal magnetoresistance was observed. The following parameters of InSb whiskers were defined: period of oscillations 0.1 Т−1, cyclotron effective mass of electrons mс ≈ 0.14mо, concentration of charge carriers 2.3 × 1017 сm−3, g-factor g* ≈ 30 and Dingle temperature ТD = 14.5 K. To determine the nature of crystal defects, the electron scattering processes on the short-range potential, caused by interaction with polar and nonpolar optical phonons, piezoelectric and acoustic phonons, static strain centers and ionized impurities in n-InSb whiskers, with defect concentration 2.9 × 1017 cm−3, are considered. The temperature dependences of electron mobility in the range 4.2–500 K were calculated.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide