Heat capacity and microhardness of the topological crystalline insulator Pb1-xSnxTe near the band inversion composition

The goal of the present work is to reveal effects accompanying the band inversion in Pb1-xSnxTe solid solutions by measuring heat capacity and microhardness. The objects of the study are Pb1-xSnxTe alloys with Sn concentrations in the range of x = (0.59 - 0.68), near the composition corresponding to the transition to a gapless state close to room temperature. It was established that in the Pb1-xSnxTe solid solutions, the transition to the bulk gapless state with the band inversion is manifested through the appearance of peaks in the dependences of specific heat and microhardness on composition at a fixed temperature.