DESTRUCTION OF THE QUANTUM HALL EFFECT WITH INCREASING DISORDER

Abstract

We report experimental studies of disorder-induced transitions between quantum-Hall, metallic, and insulating states in a very dilute two-dimensional electron system in silicon at a magnetic field corresponding to Landau level filling factor $ν=1$. At low disorder, the lowest extended state at $ν=1$ is below the Fermi energy so that the system is in the quantum Hall state. Our data show that with increasing disorder (but at constant electron density and magnetic field), the extended state DOES NOT DISAPPEAR BUT FLOATS UP IN ENERGY SO THAT THE SYSTEM BECOMES INSULATING. As the extended state crosses the Fermi energy, the conductivity $σ_{xx}\sim e^2/2h$ has temperature dependence characteristic of a metallic system.