~ Solid State Co~unications, Voi.29, pp.705-709.

Pergamon Press Ltd. 1979. Printed in Great Britain.

TWO-DI~.~NSIONAL ELECT~ON GAS AT A SEMICONDUCTOr-SEMICONDUCTOR INTERFACE

H.L. Stormer, ~. Dingle, A.C. Gossard, W. Wiegmann and M.D. Sturge

Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974 USA

(Received January i0, 1979 by E. Burstein)

We r e p o r t the f i r s t o b s e r v a t i o n of a t w o - - d i m e n s i o n a l
e l e c t r o n 9as at a s e m i c o n d u c t o r - s e m i c o n d u c t o r (GaAs-AZGaAs)
interface. A novel, high-mobility, persistent-photocon-
d u c t i v e e f f e c t a l l o w s o n e to v a r y the t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l
c a r r i e r c o n c e n t r a t i o n c o n t i n u o u s l y f r o m 1 . 1 × 1 0 1 2 c m -2 to
1 . 6 × 1 0 1 2 c m -2, as o b t a i n e d by S h u b n i k o v - d e H a a s measure-
ments. C y c l o t r o n r e s o n a n c e d a t a e s t a b l i s h an e f f e c t i v e
m a s s of l.ll m~, w h e r e m ~ is the m a s s at the c o n d u c t i o n -
b a n d e d g e of GaAs. Hall data and cyclotron resonance
y i e l d a m o b i l i t y of ~ % 5000 cm2/%'sec.

W e r e p o r t tile o b s e r v a t i o n of a
high-mobility two-dimensional electron
g a s (2DEG) at a G a A s - A Z G a A s h e t e r o -
junction interface. T h i s is the f i r s t
d e r a o n s t r a t i o n of a 2 D E G at a s i n g l e
semiconductor-semiconductor interface
as w e l l as the f i r s t r e a l i z a t i o n of a
2 D E G on the s u r f a c e of GaAs. The new
s y s t e m is of i n t e r e s t f r o m the p o i n t
of v i e w of f u n d a m e n t a l r e s e a r c h as w e l l
as fo~ f u t u r e t e c h n o l o g y . GaAs--AZGaAs
heterojunctions are virtually free from
interface states I and therefore repre-
s e n t an i d e a l s y s t e m for s t u d i e s of
the u n i q u e p r o p e r t i e s of a 2DEG, e s p e -
c i a l l y at low c a r r i e r d e n s i t i e s . The
b a s i c s t r u c t u r e is s i m i l a r to the
semiconGuctor-oxide interface in tech-
nologically important metal-oxide-
semiconductor (MOS) d e v i c e s .
A G a A s - A Z G a A s s a m p l e w a s g r o w n by
m o l e c u l a r b e a m e p i t a x y (MBE) 2 on an
insulating (Cr-doped) <100>-GaAs sub-
strate. It c o n s i s t s of a G a A s l a y e r
c o v e r e d by a l a y e r of A i x G a l - x A s
(x = .29), b o t h h a v i n g a t h i c k n e s s of
approximately 3 ~ra (see i n s e t Fig. i) .
T h e A Z G a A s l a y e r is d e l i b e r a t e l y d o p e d
w i t h Si to a l e v e l of ~ 1018 c m -3
t h e r m a l l y a c t i v e d o n o r s , w h i l e the G a A s
l a y e r is u n d o @ e d , l e a v i n g it s l i o h t l y
p - t y p e (~ 1 0 1 5 c m - 3 a c c e p t o r s 3 ) . ~
It has b e e n d e m o n s t r a t e d t h a t MBF
grown GaAs-A~GaAs heterojunctions ex-
h i b i t a b r u p t s t e p s in c o n d u c t i o n a n d
v a l e n c e b a n d a t a connmon i n t e r f a c e . 4
T h e s e s t e p s a r e ~ 300 m e V a n d ~ 55 meV,
r e s p e c t i v e l y for an AZ m o l e f r a c t i o n of
x = 0.29 as in o u r s a m p l e . O n l y the
c o n d u c t i o n b a n d is i n v o l v e d in the
e f f e c t ~o ie d e s c r i b e d .
To m a i n t a i n a c o n s t a n t F e r m i l e v e l
n h r o u g h o u t the j u n c t i o n , Si d o n o r s at
the A Z G a A s s i d e of the i n t e r f a c e b e -
come ionized and transfer carriers
a c r o s s the i n t e r f a c e to t h e c o n d u c t i o n
b a n d of G a A s w h i c h is ~ 300 m e V l o w e r
in e n e r g y . This charge transfer
c r e a t e s s t r o n g i n t e r n a l e l e c t r i c field~
(% 105 V/cm) t h a t c a u s e s i g n i f i c a n t
b a n d b e n d i n g in the v i c i n i t y of the
J u n c t i o n , r e s u l t i n g in a s t r o n g c o n -
f i n e m e n t of the e l e c t r o n s into an
approximately triangular, one-dimen-
s i o n a l p o t e n t i a l w e l l p e r p e n d i c u l a r to
the i n t e r f a c e . The w e l l has a w i d t h
of ~ 190 ~ (see i n s e t Fig. 2). The
r e s u l t i n g s i t u a t i o n is a n a l o g o u s to
the c a s e of s u r f a c e c h a r g e l a y e r s . 5
C a r r i e r m o t i o n in the p e r p e n d i c u l a r
d i r e c t i o n is q u a n t i z e d , f o r m i n g a set
of b o u n d s t a t e s . M O t i o n a l o n g the
i n t e r f a c e r e m a i n s u n h i n d e r e d and is
p r a c t i c a l l y free f r o m i o n i z e d - i m p u r i t y
s c a t t e r i n g (the l i m i t i n g f a c t o r for
the l o w - t e m p e r a t u r e m o b i l i t y ) b e c a u s e
of the s p a t i a l s e p a r a t i o n of p a r e n t
d o n o r s a n d free e l e c t r o n s . 6 A q u a s i -
two-dimensional electron gas results.
Hall m e a s u r e m e n t s on o u r s a m p l e
e s t a o l i s h a l o w e r l i m i t for the m o b i l -
ity of 5000 c m 2 V - i s e c -I at 4.2 K. The
two-dimensionality of the e l e c t r o n i c
s y s t e m is m o s t c o n v e n i e n t l y d e m o n -
s t r a t e d by the a n g u l a r d e p e n d e n c e of
the m a g n e t o r e s i s t a n c e . 7 P r o n o u n c e d
Shubnikov-deHaas (SdH)-oscillations
a p p e a r w h e n the m a g n e t i c field, H, is
a p p l l e d p e r p e n d i c u l a r to the i n t e r f a c e
(Fig. !, t r a c e a), w h i l e t h e s e o s c i l -
l a t i o n s a r e a b s e n t a f t e r r o t a t i n g the
f i e l d i n t o the p l a n e of the l a y e r s
(Fig. I, t r a c e b) . T h e o b s e r v e d
a n i s o t r o p y m a n i f e s t s the qdasi--two-
d i m e n s i o n a l i t y of the e l e c t r o n i c s y s -
tem. The r e s i d u a l s t r u c t u r e s in
t r a c e b a r e w e a k , do not s h o w the
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c p e r i o d i c i t y in i/II and
a r e p r e s u m a b l y r e l a t e d to the h i g h l y -
doped bulk A%GaAs.

705
706 TWO-DIMENSION.AL ELECTRON GAS Vol. 29, No. i0

A s s u m i n g the r e l e v a n t e f f e c t i v e served. In trace d, the m a g n e t o -

m a s s to be the bulk m a s s of GaAs r e s i s z a n c e in c o n f i g u r a t i o n HII, o s c i l -
(m~ = 0.0665 moB) and n e g l e c t i n g non- ! a t i o n s are still absent. Rout!ne
parabolicity so that the t w o - d i m e n - d a t a r e d u c t i o n of the S d H - o s c i l l a t i o n s .
s i o n a l d e n s i t y of s t a t e s for a s i n g l e s h o w n in Fig. 2, trace c I and c2, es-
s u b b a n d b e c o m e s D(E) = -'*'-~2 LLLD/ ' (spin t a b l i s h e s two Fermi e n e r g i e s of 52 m e V
d e g e n e r a c y = 2) 9 we o b h a i n from the and 7 meV, r e s u l t i n g in a total e l e c -
p e r i o d i c i t y of the o s c i l l a t i o n s in tron c o n c e n t r a t i o n of 1 . 6 × 1 0 1 2 cm-2;
I/H (Fig. 2, trace b) a Fermi e n e r g y an i n c r e a s e of 50% o v e r the d a r k value.
of 38 m e V and a c a r r i e r c o n c e n t r a t i o n The o r i g i n of this p e r s i s t e n t
of l . l x l 0 1 2 cm -2. I n c l u s i o n of non- photoeffect, that has a time c o ~ z t a n t
p a r a b o l i c i t y will a l t e r these n u m b e r s in the o r d e r of days and is r e v e r s i b l e
by p e r h a p s 10%. by h e a t i n g the s a m o l e to I06 K or more,
The G a A s - A Z G a A s i n t e r f a c e e x h i - is not c o m p l e t e l y settled. However,
bits a novel h i g h - m o b i l i t y p e r s i s t e n t - the t e m p e r a t u r e d e p e n d e n c e of the re-
photoconductive effect. E x p o s i n g the c o v e r y i n d i c a t e s that it is r e l a t e d to
s a m p l e at low t e m p e r a t u r e s to v i s i b l e a s o - c a l l e d D X - c e n t e r , I~ w h i c h is
l i g h t ( 1 % 700 nm) for a p e r i o d of t h o u g h t to be p r e s e n t in the A ~ G a A s
s e v e r a l s e c o n d s (all our p r e v i o u s ex- layer. V a r i a t i o n of the S i - d o n o r con-
perimer<ts have L e e n p e r f o r m e d b e f o r e c e n t r a t i o n c o m b i n e d w i t h this novel
l i g h t exposure) c h a n g e s the SdH p a t t e r n persistent photoconductive e f f e c t will
considerably (Fig. I, trace c and d) . a l l o w us to v a r y the e l e c t r o n d e n s i t y
The f r e q u e n c y of the m a g n e t o - o s c i l l a - in the c h a n n e l o v e r a wide r a n g e ac-
tions is i n c r e a s e d c o m p a r e d to trace a c e s s i n g d e t a i l e d s t u d i e s of the den-
and a second, l o w - f r e q u e n c y o s c i l l a - sity d e p e n d e n c e of e l e c t r o n - e l e c t r o n
tion, a s s o c i a t e d w i t h a s e c o n d s u b b a n G interaction in a 2DEG c o n f i n e d to an
that b e g i n s to be o c c u p i e d , is oh- i n t e r f a c e of h i g h p e r f e c t i o n b e t w e e n

I H_L

A~ Go As: si ~_

t- //"Ga As j
HI DARK

>- HI I

t..-

' ~ HII D A R K ~ (°)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ x ~ (b)
rr
04

Ld
HI LIGHT _ /--,
0 • " .. ...

I--
03 (c)
I,..d
rt-

0
I'-"-
I,..d
Z
£.9
<~
(d)
I I I I I I t
0 10 20 30 40 50 6o 70
M#GNETIC FIELD [kG]

Fig. 1 Angular dependence of the m a g n e t o r e s i s t a n c e of a

GaAs-AZGaAs:Si interface. "Light" refers to d a t a

taken after light exposure of % 100 sec, when

saturation occurs.
Vol. 29, No. 10 TWO-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRON GAS 707

E ~2:7 meV
N ~2: 2~ 1011 L,G.T t
DARK
7
505 meV
(.9
DOO 52 meV-]
0
o 6- LIGHT q
-80meV
i
f I
-160 meV
n 5 OAS L7 meV
i,i A.0.GoAs:Si I/GoAs A~GoAs:Si
LL
0
~4 N

w (c~),.~
Z
t9 (c2) (a) ~.~~G
~ 3
DA~/ HT
.M
<~ Ed= 58meV J /
0 n d 1.1~I0 t2 cm-2,,/7 _......-."~ Eel-- 52 meV
cc
n
2 .//~/~,..~7 n~1: 1.4 -~ I0'12cm-2
LLI
Cr
I _ _

he
AP n- mb
FF=mc A,-" -;V EF

o I I I I I I I I I I I I
0 I 2 5 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 42
LANDAU QUANTUM NUMBER p
Fig. 2 Reciprocal field at m a x i m a and minima of m a g n e t o -

oscillations (Fig. i) v e r s u s Landau quantum number.

Lower case letters at traces refer to t r a c e s of

Fig. i, n d e n o t e s two-dimensional electron densities,

subscripts d and Z identify measurements taken before

(dark) and after (light) exposure to light. The

inset s,mmmarizes the c o n d i t i o n s in the conduction
band at the interface.

%wo crystalline solids. d e t e c t o r s e n s i t i v i t y and f r o m i n t e n s i t y

As an e x a m p l e of s u c h m e a s u r e - f l u c t u a t i o n s of the l a s e r o u t p u t . The
m e n t s , we p r e s e n t i n i t i a l c y c l o t r o n s a m p l e w a s w e d g e d by 3 ° e q u i v a l e n t to
resonance (CR) d a t a f r o m the h e t e r o - a t h i c k n e s s v a r i a t i o n of % 5 I (I =
junction system that yields accurate w a v e l e n g t h of 1 8 4 0 GHz) o v e r the a p e r -
d a t a o n e l e c t r o n m a s s , m c, a n d s c a t - t u r e to a v o i d i n t e r f e r e n c e s . 1 3
t e r i n g time, T, at two d i f f e r e n t F i g u r e 3 s h o w s the d e r i v a t i v e of
electron densities. The transmission the 1840 GHz r a d i a t i o n p o w e r a b s o r p -
a r r a n g e m e n t , II s h o w n in the i n s e t of t i o n as a f u n c t i o n of m a g n e t i c - f i e l d
Fig. 3, w a s used. A far i n f r a r e d strength. W e q u o t e the m o s t i m p o r t a n t
(FIR) w a v e g u i d e laser, o p t i c a l l y results:
p u m p e d by a p u l s e d C © 2 - 1 a s e r , p r o v i d e d l) F i t t i n g the o v e r a l l s h a p e of
1840 G H z r a d i a t i o n . 1 2 By m e a s u r i n g the r e s o n a n c e to the d e r i v a t i v e of the
s i g n a l s f r o m two G a - d o p e d C e - p h o t o - classical expressionl4
d e t e c t o r s at e q u a l d i s t a n c e a b o v e a n d
b e l o w the s a m p l e , w e e l i m i n a t e d e r r o r s P ( I + ( ~ 2 + ~ 2 ) T 2 ) / ( ( i + c ( ~2C - ~ )2 T 2 ) 2 + 4 W 2 T 2 )
d u e to the s l i g h t l y f i e l d - - d e p e n d e n t
70S TWO-DLMENSIONAL ELECTRON GAS Vol. 29, No. i0

y i e l d s a c y c l o t r o n m a s s of mS = i . i i × after light exposure ( t a k i n g i n t o ac-

m b u l k a n d wr = 2.4. c o u n ~ the p o s i t i o n of the s e c o n d
2) Additional oscillations occur level, o b t a i n e d in SdH, a n d a s s a m i n g
at the h i g h - f i e l d s i d e of the r e s o n - the l e v e l s e p a r a t i o n to be d e n s i t y
ance. They are so-called quantum independent) .
o s c i l l a t i o n s , 15 f o u n d e a r l i e r in Si Tile v a l u e of wT : 2.4 is c o n s i s -
s p a c e c h a r g e l a y e r s , II a n d a r e u n i q u e t e n : w i t h the H a l l m o b i l i t i e s . With
to t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l systems. the u s e of an e m p i r i c a l e x p r e s s i o n
3) Exposure to l i g h t ( i n c r e a s e of i/~ : 0.65x(i/~io)I/2 for the r e l a -
electron concentration), s h o w n in t r a c e t i o n b e t w e e n T a n d the s c a t t e r i n g time
b a n d c of Fig. 3, h a s o n l y a m i n o r in the a b s e n c e of ~ m a g n e t i c field,
e f f e c t on the m a s s ( a c c u r a c y % 1%) a n d ~o ,II we o b t a i n a v a l u e for the m o b i l -
on wT. (The b e s t fit to t r a c e b y i e l d s i t y of u = 5600 c m 2 V - i s e c -I, t h a t c o m -
m c = 1 . 1 2 mb, wr = 2.7) . p a r e s w e l l w i t h t h e l o w e r limit, set
4) F r o m the p o s i t i o n of t h e by t h e H a l l data.
quantum oscillations we c a n d e d u c e t h e T h e m o s t s t r i k i n g f e a t u r e of the
e l e c t r o n d e n s i t y . l l , 15 U s i n g the b u l k CR, the i n c r e a s e in c a r r i e r m a s s com-
m a s s of G a A s to a l l o w c o m p a r i s o n with p a r e d to the b u l k m a s s , is p r o b a b l y d u e
the S d H r e s u l t s we f i n d g o o d a g r e e m e n t to n o n p a r a b o l i c i t y of the c o n d u c t i o n
with those values; (1.25_+.i)x1012 c m - 2 band of GaAs. S h o r t of a m o r e - a c c u r a t e ,
in the d a r k a n d (1.55_+.I) x l 0 1 2 c m -2 quantum-mechanical t r e a t m e n t , we c a i -

tO
'1840 GHZ
RA D I ~ FIR-WAVEGUIDE
- -

rr
>- ~ \ i I [~DETECTOR['
<
rr ~ ,,_ ~ \ /HeI~/L~MAGNET
,.~ .~t,,,P' ~ . ,,/Vv '~ \ /~,1 I .~p-- SAMPLE
+ \\ DETEC-'°R
:z:
'o
mu K
CL
-o
Z
o
~_- ~ < H _ !.///.
~3#mtA~GgA%.S)~ ....... \ \ .",\
\ - - ' ~3_~/
o_ - ~ ? X/, SAMPLE ~ "--- th ~ ]
u)° ' GOAS _ ~ .~" I,L GHT
< (c) '
w

13_
I I I I I I I [ I
o lo 20 30 4o eo 7o 8o 90
MAGNETIC FIELD [kG]
Fig. 3 Derivative of p o w e r absorption of 1840 GHz radiation

versus magnetic field before and after light exposure.

The dashed line represents the classical fit with

m = 0.074 m and ~T = 2.4. Traces a and c were

c o
recorded at % 2 K, trace b was taken at % 4 K.

Electron densities, quoted in the text were calculated

from the quantum oscillations of curve a and c.

Details of insets are explained in the text.

VoL. 29, No. i0 TWO-Dr.MENS[0NAL ELECTRON GAS 709

c u l a t e the l o w e s t b o u n d state, E o, for w e l l as the r e l a t i v e s m a l l d i s c o n t i n -

a simple, triangular potential well 5
of s l o o e F = 1 . 7 ~ i 0 5 V / c m ( c o r r e s ~ o n d -
in~ toga d i p o l e l a y e r of 1 . 2 × i 0 ! 2 " e /
c m ). The m e a n s e p a r a t i o n of the
e l e c t r o n f r o m the i n t e r f a c e is z o =
Eo/3eF.5 The F e r m i l e v e l is 80 m e V
a b o v e the c o n d u c t i o n b a n d e d g e of z O
(inset Fig. 2) . Zt this p o s i t i o n ,
u s i n g an e x p r e s s i o n for the e n e r g ~ de-
p e n d e n c e of the c y c l o t r o n m a s s in b u l k
GaAs, 16 we o b t a i n a m a s s i n c r e a s e of 9%.
T h e a g r e e m e n t of this c r u d e c a l c u l a t i o n
w i t h e x p e r i m e n t i n d i c a t e s t h a t the m a j o r
p a r t of the m a s s i n c r e a s e c a n be ex-
p l a i n e d by n o n p a r a b o l i c i t y in the F 1
b a n d of GaAs.
M o r e q u a n t i t a t i v e s t a t e m e n t s on
the m a s s a n d in turn on the a c t u a l d e n -
sit~' of s t a t e s h a v e to be p o s t p o n e d
u n t i l d e t a i l e d c a l c u l a t i o n o n the l e v e l
s c h e m e of this n e w s y s t e m are a v a i l a b l e .
T h o s e c a l c u l a t i o n s h a v e to t a k e i n t o
a c c o u n t n o n p a r a b o l i c i t y of the b a n d s as
u i t y b e t w e e n nhe G a A s a n d A i G a A s t h a t
p e r m i t s an a ~ p r e c i a b l e p e n e t r a t i o n of
the e l e c t r o n s i n t o the b a r r i e r r e g i o n .
in s u m m a r y we r e p o r t the f i r s t
o b s e r v a t i o n of a q u a s i - t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l ,
high-mobility, e l e c t r o n gas b o u n d to a
semiconductor-semiconductor hereto-
j u n c t i o n i n t e r f a c e of h i g h p e r f e c t i o n .
The s y s t e m o f f e r s a p r o m i s i n g a l t e r -
n a t i v e to t r a d i t i o n a l s u r f a c e c h a r g e
l a y e r s for the s t u d y of v a r i o u s f u n d a -
m e n t a l p h y s i c a l p r o p e r t i e s of a two-
dimensional electron gas and might have
considerable technological potential
a~ w e l l .
Acknowledgment
,Je w o u l d l i k e to t h a n k R. A. L o c a n
for c o n t a c t i n g the s a m p l e s , V. N a r a y a n a -
m u f t i for d i s c u s s i o n s , L. K o p f ffor
t e c h n i c a l a s s i s t a n c e , a n d A. K a m g a r for
help with equipment.

REFERENCES

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