Electrical Transport Properties Driven by Unique Bonding Configuration in ?-GeSe

Abstract

Group IV monochalcogenides have recently shown great potential for their thermoelectric, ferroelectric, and other intriguing properties. The electrical properties of group IV monochalcogenides exhibit a strong dependence on the chalcogen type. For example, GeTe exhibits high doping concentration, whereas S/Se-based chalcogenides are semiconduc-tors with sizable bandgaps. Here, we investigate the electrical and thermoelectric properties of gamma-GeSe, a recently identified polymorph of GeSe. gamma-GeSe exhibits high electrical conductivity (similar to 106 S/m) and a relatively low Seebeck coefficient (9.4 mu V/K at room temperature) owing to its high p-doping level (5 x 1021 cm-3), which is in stark contrast to other known GeSe polymorphs. Elemental analysis and first-principles calculations confirm that the abundant formation of Ge vacancies leads to the high p -doping concentration. The magnetoresistance measurements also reveal weak antilocalization because of spin-orbit coupling in the crystal. Our results demonstrate that gamma-GeSe is a unique polymorph in which the modified local bonding configuration leads to substantially different physical properties.