Fermi-level pinning, charge transfer, and relaxation of spin-momentum locking at metal contacts to topological insulators

Topological insulators are of interest for many applications in electronics and optoelectronics, but harnessing their unique properties requires detailed understanding and control of charge injection at electrical contacts. Here we present large-scale ab initio calculations of the electronic properties of Au, Ni, Pt, Pd, and graphene contacts to Bi₂Se₃. We show that regardless of the metal, the Fermi level is located in the conduction band, leading to n-type Ohmic contact to the first quintuplet. Furthermore, we find strong charge transfer and band bending in the first few quintuplets, with no Schottky barrier for charge injection even when the topological insulator is undoped. Our calculations indicate that Au and graphene leave the spin-momentum locking mostly unaltered, but on the other hand, Ni, Pd, and Pt strongly hybridize with Bi₂Se₃ and relax spin-momentum locking. Our results indicate that judicious choice of the contact metal is essential to reveal the unique surface features of topological insulators.