SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · cond-mat/9603058

Distribution Function Analysis of Mesoscopic Hopping Conductance Fluctuations

Abstract

Variable-range hopping (VRH) conductance fluctuations in the gate-voltage characteristics of mesoscopic GaAs and Si transistors are analyzed by means of their full distribution functions (DFs). The forms of the DF predicted by the theory of Raikh and Ruzin have been verified under controlled conditions for both the long, narrow wire and the short, wide channel geometries. The variation of the mean square fluctuation size with temperature in wires fabricated from both materials is found to be described quantitatively by Lee's model of VRH along a 1D chain. Armed with this quantitative validation of the VRH model, the DF method is applied to the problem of magnetoconductance in the insulating regime. Here a non-monotonic variation of the magnetoconductance is observed in Si MOSFETS whose sign at low magnetic fields is dependent on the channel geometry. The origin of this defect is discussed within the framework of the interference model of VRH magnetoconductance in terms of narrowing of the DF in a magnetic field.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

R. J. F. Hughes, A. K. Savchenko, J. E. F. Frost, E. H. Linfield, J. T. Nicholls, M. Pepper, E. Kogan, M. Kaveh. 1996-04-25. Distribution Function Analysis of Mesoscopic Hopping Conductance Fluctuations. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.54.2091

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Spectral Representation for the Effective Macroscopic Response of a Polycrystal: Application to Third-Order Nonlinear Susceptibility

Erratum: In our paper, we show that the spectral representation for isotropic two-component composites also applies to uniaxial polycrystals. We have learned that this result was, in fact, first conjectured by G.W. Milton. While our derivation is more detailed, our result for the spectral function is the same as Milton's. We very much regret not having been aware of this work at the time of writing our paper. Original abstract: We extend the spectral theory used for the calculation of the effective linear response functions of composites to the case of a polycrystalline material with uniaxially anisotropic microscopic symmetry. As an application, we combine these results with a nonlinear decoupling approximation as modified by Ma et al., to calculate the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of a uniaxial polycrystal, assuming that the effective dielectric function of the polycrystal can be calculated within the effective-medium approximation.

cond-mat

Towards quantum well hot hole lasers

It should be possible to improve hot-hole laser performance by moving from bulk materials to a quantum well structure. The extra design parameters enable us to alter the band structure by changing the crystal orientation of the growth direction; to use the well width to shift the subband offsets, enabling the effect of the LO phonon scattering cut-off to be controlled; and to use modulation doping to ensure a high hole concentration to increase the gain without the dopants being present in the gain region. We present the first simulations of THz quantum well hot-hole lasers that can produce inversion and optical gain.

cond-mat