Dislocation scattering in a two-dimensional electron gas of an AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructure

The theoretical electron mobility limited by dislocation scattering of a two-dimensional electron gas confined near the interface of an AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructure is calculated. The accurate wave functions and electron distributions of the three lowest subbands for a typical structure are obtained by solving the Schrodinger and Poisson equations self-consistently. Based on the model of treating dislocation as a charged line, a simple scattering potential, a square-well potential, is utilized. The estimated mobility suggests that such a choice can simplify the calculation without introducing significant deviation from experimental data. It is also found that the dislocation scattering dominates both the low- and moderate-temperature mobilities and accounts for the nearly flattening-out behavior with increasing temperature. To clarify the role of dislocation scattering all standard scattering mechanisms are included in the calculation.

Effects of polarization field on formation of two-dimensional electron gas in (0001) and (11(2)over-bar0) plane AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Photoluminescence (PL) and temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements were carried out in (0001) and (11 (2) over bar0) AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown on sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. There are strong spontaneous and piezoelectric electric fields (SPF) along the growth orientation of the (0001) AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. At the same time there are no corresponding SPF along that of the (1120) AlGaN/GaN. A strong PL peak related to the recombination between two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and photoexcited holes was observed at 3.258 eV at room temperature in (0001) AlGaN/GaN heterointerfaces while no corresponding PL peak was observed in (11 (2) over bar0). The existence of a 2DEG was observed in (0001) AlGaN/GaN multi-layers with a mobility saturated at 6000 cm(2)/V s below 80 K, whereas a much lower mobility was measured in (11 (2) over bar0). These results indicated that the SPF was the main element to cause the high mobility and high sheet-electron-density 2DEG in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetointersubband oscillations of the two-dimensional electron gas in AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures

Shubmkov-de Haas (SdH) measurements are performed over a temperature range of 1.5-20K in AL(0.22)Ga(0.78)N/GaN heterostructures with two subbands occupied. In addition to an intermodulation between two sets of SdH oscillations from the first and second subbands, a beating in oscillatory magnetoresistance at 12K is observed, due to the mixing of the first subband SdH oscillations and 'magnetointersubband' (MIS) oscillations. A phase shift of pi between the SdH and MIS oscillations is also clearly identified. Our experimental results, i.e. that the SdH oscillations dominate at low temperature and MIS oscillations dominate at high temperature, fully comply with the expected behaviour of MIS oscillations.

Photoluminescence investigation of two-dimensional electron gas in an undoped AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructure

Low-temperature photoluminescence measurement is performed on an undoped AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructure. Temperature-dependent Hall mobility confirms the formation of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) near the heterointerface. A weak photoluminescence (PL) peak with the energy of similar to 79meV lower than the free exciton (FE) emission of bulk GaN is related to the radiative recombination between electrons confined in the triangular well and the holes near the flat-band region of GaN. Its identification is supported by the solution of coupled one-dimensional Poisson and Schrodinger equations. When the temperature increases, the red shift of the 2DEG related emission peak is slower than that of the FE peak. The enhanced screening effect coming from the increasing 2DEG concentration and the varying electron distribution at two lowest subbands as a function of temperature account for such behaviour.

Spin-polarized transport of two-dimensional electron gas embedded in a diluted magnetic semiconductor

The spin-polarized transport property of a diluted magnetic semiconductor two-dimensional electron gas is investigated theoretically at low temperature. A large current polarization can be found in this system even at small magnetic fields and oscillates with increasing magnetic field while the carrier polarization is vanishingly small. The magnitude as well as the sign of the current polarization can be tuned by varying magnetic field, the electron density and the Mn concentration. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Circular photogalvanic effect of the two-dimensional electron gas in AlXGa1-XN/GaN heterostructures under uniaxial strain

The circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructures induced by infrared radiation has been investigated under uniaxial strain. The observed photocurrent consists of the superposition of the CPGE and the linear photogalvanic effect currents, both of which are up to 10(-2) nA. The amplitude of the CPGE current increases linearly with additional strain and is enhanced by 18.6% with a strain of 2.2x10(-3). Based on the experimental results, the contribution of bulk-inversion asymmetry (BIA) and structure-inversion asymmetry (SIA) spin splitting of the 2DEG to the CPGE current in the heterostructures is separated, and the ratio of SIA and BIA terms is estimated to be about 13.2, indicating that the SIA is the dominant mechanism to induce the k-linear spin splitting of the subbands in the triangular quantum well at AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterointerfaces. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Weak anti-localization in InAlAs/InGaAs/InAlAs high mobility two-dimensional electron gas systems

Magneto-transport measurements have been carried out on three heavily Si delta-doped In-0.52 Al-0.48 As/In-0.53 Ga-0.47 As/In-0.52 A(10.48) As single quantum well samples in which two subbands were occupied by electrons. The weak anti-localization (WAL) has been found in such high electron mobility systems. The strong Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling is due to the high structure inversion asymmetry (SIA) of the quantum wells. Since the WAL theory model is so complicated in fitting our experimental results, we obtained the Rashba SO coupling constant alpha and the zero-field spin splitting Delta(0) by an approximate approach. The results are consistent with that obtained by the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillation analysis. The WAL effect in high electron mobility system suggests that finding a useful approach for deducing alpha and Delta(0) is important in designing future spintronics devices that utilize the Rashba SO coupling.

Mode softening in charge-density excitations of a two-dimensional electron gas driven by Rashba spin-orbit interaction

The electron density response of a uniform two-dimensional (2D) electron gas is investigated in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field and Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI). It is found that, within the Hartree-Fock approximation, a charge density excitation mode below the cyclotron resonance frequency shows a mode softening behavior, when the spin-orbit coupling strength falls into a certain interval. This mode softening indicates that the ground state of an interacting uniform 2D electron gas may be driven by the Rashba SOI to undergo a phase transition to a nonuniform charge density wave state.

Charge-density and spin-density excitations in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We study theoretically the charge-density and spin-density excitations in a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field and a Rashba type spin-orbit coupling. The dispersion and the corresponding intensity of excitations in the vicinity of cyclotron resonance frequency are calculated within the framework of random phase approximation. The dependence of excitation dispersion on various system parameters, i.e., the Rashba spin-orbit interaction strength, the electron density, the Zeeman spin splitting, and the Coulomb interaction strength is investigated.

Spectral dependence of spin photocurrent and current-induced spin polarization in an InGaAs/InAlAs two-dimensional electron gas

The converse effects of spin photocurrent and current induced spin polarization are experimentally demonstrated in a two-dimensional electron gas system with Rashba spin splitting. Their consistency with the strength of the Rashba coupling as measured for the same system from beating of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations reveals a unified picture for the spin photocurrent, current-induced spin-polarization, and spin-orbit coupling. In addition, the observed spectral inversion of the spin photocurrent indicates a system with dominating structure inversion asymmetry.

Magneto-transport characteristics of two-dimensional electron gas for Si delta-doped InAlAs/InGaAs single quantum well

Magneto-transport measurements have been carried out on a Si heavily delta-doped In0.52Al0.48As/In(0.53)G(0.47)As single quantum well in the temperature range between 1.5 and 60 K under magnetic field up to 10 T. We studied the Shubnikov-de Haas(SdH) effect and the Hall effect for the In0.52Al0.48As/In(0.53)G(0.47)As single quantum well occupied by two subbands, and have obtained the electron concentration, mobility, effective mass and energy levels respectively. The electron concentrations of the two subbands derived from mobility spectrum combined with multi-carrier fitting analysis are well consistent with the result from the SdH oscillation. From fast Fourier transform analysis for d(2)rho/dB(2)-1/B, it is observed that there is a frequency of f(1)-f(2) insensitive to the temperature, besides the frequencies f(1), f(2) for the two subbands and the frequency doubling 2f(1), both dependent on the temperature. This is because That the electrons occupying the two different subbands almost have the same effective mass in the quantum well and the magneto-intersubband scattering between the two subbands is strong.

Study of persistent photoconductivity and subband electronic properties of the two-dimensional electron gas in modulation doped GaAs/AlGaAs structure

We obtained the high mobility Of mu(2K) = 1.78 x 10(6) cm(2)/V . s in Si-doped GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) structures. After the sample was illuminated by a light-emitting diode in magnetic fields up to 6 T at T = 2K, we did observe the persistent photoconductivity effect and the electron density increased obviously. The electronic properties of 2DEG have been studied by Quantum-Hall-effect and Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillation measurements. We found that the electron concentrations of two subbands increase simultaneity with the increasing total electron concentration, and the electron mobility also increases obviously after being illuminated. At the same time, we also found that the electronic quantum lifetime becomes shorter, and a theoretical explunation is given through the widths of integral quantum Hall plateaus.

Spin-polarized transport in a lateral two-dimensional diluted magnetic semiconductor electron gas

The transport property of a lateral two-dimensional paramagnetic diluted magnetic semiconductor electron gas under a spatially periodic magnetic field is investigated theoretically. We find that the electron Fermi velocity along the modulation direction is highly spin dependent even if the spin polarization of the carrier population is negligibly small. It turns out that this spin-polarized Fermi velocity alone can lead to a strong spin polarization of the current, which is still robust against the energy broadening effect induced by the impurity scattering. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Magnetotransport in two-dimensional electron gas: The interplay between spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman splitting

We investigate theoretically the interplay between Zeeman splitting, Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI), and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction (DSOI) and its influence on the magnetotransport property of two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at low temperature. Our theoretical results show that the nodes of the beating patterns of the magnetoresistivity rho(xx) for 2DEG with RSOI or DSOI alone depend sensitively on the total spin splitting induced by these three spin splitting mechanisms. It is interesting to find that the eigenstates in the presence of RSOI alone are connected with those in the presence of DSOI alone but with opposite Zeeman splitting by a time-reversal transformation. Consequently, the magnetoresistivities exhibit exactly the same oscillation patterns for these two cases. For strong RSOI or DSOI alone, the magneto-oscillation of rho(xx) shows two distinct periods. For 2DEG with both RSOI and DSOI, the beating patterns vanish for equal RSOI and DSOI strengths and vanishing Zeeman splitting. They will appear again, however, when Zeeman splitting or the difference between RSOI and DSOI strengths increases.

Blocking of the polaron effect and spin-split cyclotron resonance in a two-dimensional electron gas

Cyclotron resonance (CR) of high density GaAs quantum wells exhibits well-resolved spin splitting above the LO-phonon frequency. The spin-up and spin-down CR frequencies are reversed relative to the order expected from simple band nonparabolicity. We demonstrate that this is a consequence of the blocking of the polaron interaction which is a sensitive function of the filling of the Landau levels.