Temperature-dependent charge-carrier transport between Si-δ-doped layers and AlGaAs/InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum well with various space layer thicknesses measured by Hall-effect analysis

Temperature (T = 40 ~ 300 K) dependence of Hall-effect analysis on the dual Si-δ-doped AlGaAs/InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well (QW) structures with various space layer thicknesses (t(S) = 5, 10 and 15 nm) was performed. An interesting hysteresis behavior of electron sheet concentration [n(2D)(T)] was observed for t(S) = 10 and 15 nm but not for t(S) = 5 nm. A model involving two different activation barriers encountered respectively by electrons in the active QW and by electrons in the δ-doped layers is proposed to account for the hysteresis behavior. However, for small enough t(S) (= 5 nm ≤ 2.5 s, where s = 2.0 nm is the standard deviation of the Gaussian fit to the Si-δ-doped profile), the distribution of Si dopants near active QW acted as a specific form of “modulation doping” and can not be regarded as an ideal δ-doping. These Si dopants nearby the active QW effectively increase the magnitude of n(2D), and hence no hysteresis curve was observed. Finally, effects from t(S) on the T-dependence of electron mobility in active QW channel are also discussed.