Fabrication of high-quality one- and two-dimensional electron gases in undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures

Abstract

We have developed a technique for the fabrication of high-mobility electron gases formed in undoped GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. The use of an insulated gate allows independent control over the carrier density in the Hall bar and ohmic contact regions of the device. This unique design eliminates difficulties in obtaining reliable ohmic contacts, particularly in the low carrier density regime. In the absence of remote ionized impurity scattering, extremely high transport mobilities are obtained at low carrier densities (1×106 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 1×1010 cm−2). This design has been adapted to the formation of undoped one-dimensional electron gases that show clean and reproducible conductance plateau at 1.5 K.