In-Plane Transport and Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance in Thin Films of the Topological Insulators<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:msub><mml:mi>Bi</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub><mml:msub><mml:mi>Te</mml:mi><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>and<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:msub><mml:mi>Bi</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub><mml:msub><mml:mi>Se</mml:mi><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>

Several small-band-gap semiconductors are now known to protect metallic surface states as a consequence of the topology of the bulk electron wave functions. The known "topological insulators" with this behavior include the important thermoelectric materials Bi₂Te₃ and Bi₂Se₃, whose surfaces are observed in photoemission experiments to have an unusual electronic structure with a single Dirac cone. We study in-plane (i.e., horizontal) transport in thin films made of these materials. The surface states from top and bottom surfaces hybridize, and conventional diffusive transport predicts that the tunable hybridization-induced band gap leads to increased thermoelectric performance at low temperatures. Beyond simple diffusive transport, the conductivity shows a crossover from the spin-orbit-induced antilocalization at a single surface to ordinary localization.