Resistivity of dilute 2D electrons in an undoped GaAs heterostructure

Abstract

We report resistivity measurements from 0.03 K to 10 K in a dilute high mobility 2D electron system. Using an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction in a gated field-effect transistor geometry, a wide range of densities, $0.16 \times 10^{10} {cm}^{-2}$ to $7.5 \times 10^{10} {cm}^{-2}$, are explored. For high densities, the results are quantitatively shown to be due to scattering by acoustic phonons and impurities. In an intermediate range of densities, a peak in the resistivity is observed for temperatures below 1 K. This non-monotonic resistivity can be understood by considering the known scattering mechanisms of phonons, bulk and interface ionized impurities. Still lower densities appear insulating to the lowest temperature measured.