Electron tunneling and band structure in Bi and dilute Bi-Sb alloys

Systematic study of electron tunneling was performed in junctions of $\mathrm{S}\mathrm{n}-\mathrm{S}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{O}-{\mathrm{Bi}}_{1-x}{\mathrm{Sb}}_x$ with $x=0,1,2\mathrm{}$, and 3 at.% at temperatures from 1.5 to 4.2 K. Prominent structures in the tunneling-conductance versus junction-voltage curves were observed and attributed to the energy-band structure of the semimetals. Experimental results were in agreement with the theoretically calculated energy bands along the $\Gamma -T$ line in the Brillouin zone of bismuth by Mase. It was shown that when alloying bismuth with small amounts of antimony, the band structure remains similar but exhibits relative shrinkage towards the Fermi level.