Taneja, D., Shlimak, I., Narayan, V. orcid.org/0000-0002-0813-2572 et al. (3 more authors) (2017) Reappearance of linear hole transport in an ambipolar undoped GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 29 (18). 185302. ISSN 0953-8984
Abstract
We report the results of an investigation of ambipolar transport in a quantum well of 15 nm width in an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs structure, which was populated either by electrons or holes using positive or negative gate voltage <i>V</i><sub>tg</sub>, respectively. More attention was focussed on the low concentration of electrons <i>n</i> and holes <i>p</i> near the metal-insulator transition (MIT). It is shown that the electron mobility μ<sub>e</sub> increases almost linearly with increase of <i>n</i> and is independent of temperature <i>T</i> in the interval 0.3 K - 1.4 K, while the hole mobility µ<sub>p</sub> depends non-monotonically on <i>p</i> and <i>T</i>. This difference is explained on the basis of the different effective masses of electrons and holes in GaAs. Intriguingly, we observe that at low <i>p</i> the source-drain current (<i>I</i><sub>SD</sub>)-voltage (<i>V</i>) characteristics, which become non-linear beyond a certain <i>I</i><sub>SD</sub>, exhibit a re-entrant linear regime at even higher <i>I</i><sub>SD</sub>. We find, remarkably, that the departure and reappearance of linear behaviour is not due to non-linear response of the system, but due to an intrinsic mechanism by which there is a reduction in the net number of mobile carriers. This effect is interpreted as evidence of inhomogeneity of the conductive 2D layer in the vicinity of MIT and trapping of holes in 'dead ends' of insulating islands. Our results provide insights into transport mechanisms as well as the spatial structure of the 2D conducting medium near the 2D MIT.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI |
Keywords: | metal-insulator transition; non-linear I-V characteristics; two-dimensional hole gas |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 06 Apr 2017 13:29 |
Last Modified: | 17 Jul 2023 15:37 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IOP Publishing |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1088/1361-648X/aa6529 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:114236 |
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