Universal Behaviour of Metal-Insulator Transitions in the p-SiGe System

Magnetoresistance measurements are presented for a strained p-SiGe quantum well sample where the density is varied through the B=0 metal-insulator transition. The close relationship between this transition, the high field Hall insulator transition and the filling factor $\nu$=3/2 insulating state is demonstrated.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to EP2DS XIII conference 199

On the thermal broadening of a quantum critical phase transition

The temperature dependence of an integer Quantum Hall effect transition is studied in a sample where the disorder is dominated by short-ranged potential scattering. At low temperatures the results are consistent with a $(T/T_0)^{\kappa}$ scaling behaviour and at higher temperatures by a linear dependence similar to that reported in other material systems. It is shown that the linear behaviour results from thermal broadening produced by the Fermi-Dirac distribution function and that the temperature dependence over the whole range depends only on the scaling parameter T$_0^{\kappa}$

From semiclassical transport to quantum Hall effect under low-field Landau quantization

The crossover from the semiclassical transport to quantum Hall effect is studied by examining a two-dimensional electron system in an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure. By probing the magneto-oscillations, it is shown that the semiclassical Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) formulation can be valid even when the minima of the longitudinal resistivity approach zero. The extension of the applicable range of the SdH theory could be due to the damping effects resulting from disorder and temperature. Moreover, we observed plateau-plateau transition like behavior with such an extension. From our study, it is important to include the positive magnetoresistance to refine the SdH theory.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Metal Insulator transition at B=0 in p-SiGe

Observations are reported of a metal-insulator transition in a 2D hole gas in asymmetrically doped strained SiGe quantum wells. The metallic phase, which appears at low temperatures in these high mobility samples, is characterised by a resistivity that decreases exponentially with decreasing temperature. This behaviour, and the duality between resistivity and conductivity on the two sides of the transition, are very similar to that recently reported for high mobility Si-MOSFETs.Comment: 4 pages, REVTEX with 3 ps figure

"Forbidden" transitions between quantum Hall and insulating phases in p-SiGe heterostructures

We show that in dilute metallic p-SiGe heterostructures, magnetic field can cause multiple quantum Hall-insulator-quantum Hall transitions. The insulating states are observed between quantum Hall states with filling factors \nu=1 and 2 and, for the first time, between \nu=2 and 3 and between \nu=4 and 6. The latter are in contradiction with the original global phase diagram for the quantum Hall effect. We suggest that the application of a (perpendicular) magnetic field induces insulating behavior in metallic p-SiGe heterostructures in the same way as in Si MOSFETs. This insulator is then in competition with, and interrupted by, integer quantum Hall states leading to the multiple re-entrant transitions. The phase diagram which accounts for these transition is similar to that previously obtained in Si MOSFETs thus confirming its universal character

Weak antilocalization in a strained InGaAs/InP quantum well structure

Weak antilocalization (WAL) effect due to the interference corrections to the conductivity has been studied experimentally in a strained InGaAs/InP quantum well structure. From measurements in tilted magnetic filed, it was shown that both weak localization and WAL features depend only on the normal component of the magnetic field for tilt angles less than 84 degrees. Weak antilocalization effect showed non-monotonous dependence on the gate voltage which could not be explained by either Rashba or Dresselhouse mechanisms of the spin-orbit coupling. To describe magnetic field dependence of the conductivity, it was necessary to assume that spin-orbit scattering time depends on the external magnetic field which quenches the spin precession around effective, spin-orbit related, magnetic fields.Comment: Presented at EP2DS 2003 (Nara), to be published in Physica

Mobility-Dependence of the Critical Density in Two-Dimensional Systems: An Empirical Relation

For five different electron and hole systems in two dimensions (Si MOSFET's, p-GaAs, p-SiGe, n-GaAs and n-AlAs), the critical density, $n_c$ that marks the onset of strong localization is shown to be a single power-law function of the scattering rate $1/\tau$ deduced from the maximum mobility. The resulting curve defines the boundary separating a localized phase from a phase that exhibits metallic behavior. The critical density $n_c \to 0$ in the limit of infinite mobility.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figur

Microwave radiation induced magneto-oscillations in the longitudinal and transverse resistance of a two dimensional electron gas

We confirm the existance of magneto-resistance oscillations in a microwave-irradiated two-dimensional electron gas, first reported in a series of papers by Zhudov et al. and Mani et al. In our experiments, on a sample with a more moderate mobility, the microwave induced oscillations are observed not only in the longitudinal - but also in the transverse-resistance (Hall resistance). The phase of the oscillations is such that the decrease (increase) in the longitudinal resistance is accompanied by an increase (decrease) in the absolute value of the Hall resistance. We believe that these new results provide valuable new information to better understand the origin of this interesting phenomenon.Comment: Accepted for publication in journal of Solid State Comunication