  Recent discovery of bulk insulating topological insulator (TI)
Bi2-xSbxTe3-ySey paved a pathway toward practical device application of TIs.
For realizing TI-based devices, it is necessary to contact TIs with a metal.
Since the band-bending at the interface dominates the character of devices,
knowledge of TIs' work function is of essential importance. We have determined
the compositional dependence of work function in Bi2-xSbxTe3-ySey by
high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy. The obtained work-function values
(4.95-5.20 eV) show a systematic variation with the composition, well tracking
the energy shift of the surface chemical potential seen by angle-resolved
photoemission spectroscopy. The present result serves as a useful guide for
developing TI-based electronic devices.
