Berry curvature contributions of kagome-lattice fragments in amorphous Fe–Sn thin films

Authors

Kohei Fujiwara, Yasuyuki Kato, Hitoshi Abe, Shun Noguchi, Junichi Shiogai, Yasuhiro Niwa, Hiroshi Kumigashira, Yukitoshi Motome, and Atsushi Tsukazaki

Abstract

Amorphous semiconductors are widely applied to electronic and energy-conversion devices owing to their high performance and simple fabrication processes. The topological concept of the Berry curvature is generally ill-defined in amorphous solids, due to the absence of long-range crystalline order. Here, we demonstrate that the Berry curvature in the short-range crystalline order of kagome-lattice fragments effectively contributes to the anomalous electrical and magneto-thermoelectric properties in Fe–Sn amorphous films. The Fe–Sn films on glass substrates exhibit large anomalous Hall and Nernst effects comparable to those of the single crystals of topological semimetals Fe₃Sn₂ and Fe₃Sn. With modelling, we reveal that the Berry curvature contribution in the amorphous state likely originates from randomly distributed kagome-lattice fragments. This microscopic interpretation sheds light on the topology of amorphous materials, which may lead to the realization of functional topological amorphous electronic devices.

Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39112-1