The Impact of Electron Phonon Scattering, Finite Size and Lateral Electric Field on Transport Properties of Topological Insulators: A First Principles Quantum Transport Study.

We study, using non-equilibrium Green's function simulations combined with first-principles density functional theory, the edge-state transport in two-dimensional topological insulators. We explore the impact of electron-phonon coupling on carrier transport through the protected states of two widely known topological insulators with different bulk gaps, namely stanene and bismuthene. We observe that the transport in a topological insulator with a small bulk gap (such as stanene) can be heavily affected by electron-phonon scattering, as the bulk states broaden into the bulk gap.