Second-order phase transition of silicon from a band insulator to metal induced by strong magnetic fields

Abstract We present the second-order phase transition from a band insulator to metal that is induced by a strong magnetic field. The magnetic-field dependences of the magnetization and energy band gap of a crystalline silicon immersed in a magnetic field are investigated by means of the nonperturbative magnetic-field-containing relativistic tight-binding approximation method (2018 Phys. Rev. B 97 195135). It is shown that the energy band gap disappears at the critical magnetic field of 2.22 × 10 4 (T). At the critical magnetic field, the magnetic-field dependence of the magnetization exhibits a kink behavior, which means that this phenomenon is the second-order phase transition from a band insulator to metal. It is found that in strong magnetic fields above the critical magnetic field, namely in the metallic phase, the oscillation of the magnetization appears. It is shown that this magnetic oscillation comes from the magnetic energy bands in the magnetic Brillouin zone that change from the occupied states to unoccupied states or vice vasa.