Interplay between strain and size quantization in a class of topological insulators based on inverted-band semiconductors
We consider surface states in semiconductors with inverted-band structures, such as $\alpha$-Sn and HgTe. The main interest is the interplay of the effect of a strain of an arbitrary sign and that of the sample finite size. We clarify the origin of various transitions which happen at a given strain with the change of the sample thickness, in particular the transition between the Dirac semimetal and quasi-3D (quantized) topological insulator. We compare our results with the ones recently published in the literature. For the k-p Kane model we derive effective boundary conditions in the case when the direct band materials form high barriers for the carriers of the inner inverted-band semiconductor (for example, CdTe/HgTe/CdTe and CdTe/$\alpha$-Sn/CdTe cases). We show that in this case the BCs have an universal and simple form which does not depend on the order of different non-commuting operators in the Hamiltonian. Even in the limit of very high barriers the BCs do not reduce to the trivial zero form, but contain the information about the asymmetry of the offsets in the conduction and valence bands. These boundary conditions allow to investigate the realistic case of finite mass of the heavy hole band, and to compare the results obtained within the Kane and the Luttinger models.