Topological to trivial insulating phase transition in stanene

The electronic properties of stanene, the Sn counterpart of graphene, are theoretically studied using first-principles simulations. A topological to trivial insulating phase transition, either induced by an out-of-plane electric field or by quantum confinement effects is predicted. These results highlight the potential use of stanene nanoribbons in gate-voltage controlled dissipationless spin-based devices, and also set the minimal nanoribbon width to be used in such devices, which should be typically about 5 nm.status: publishe