Electronic property variations due to an embedded potential barrier layer in modulation-doped step quantum wells

Abstract

Electronic property variations of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in modulation-doped step quantum wells due to an embedded potential barrier were studied by performing Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH), Van der Pauw–Hall-effect, and cyclotron resonance measurements on two kinds of InxGa1−xAs/InyAl1−yAs step quantum wells which were one without and the other with an embedded barrier. The fast Fourier transformation results for the SdH data at 1.5 K indicated the electron occupation of two subbands in both step quantum wells. The total electron carrier density and the mobility of the 2DEG in the step quantum well with an embedded barrier were smaller than those in the quantum well without an embedded barrier. The electron effective masses were determined from the slopes of the main peak absorption energies as functions of the magnetic field, and satisfied qualitatively the nonparabolicity effects in both quantum wells. The electronic subband energies, the wave functions, and the Fermi energies were calculated by using a self-consistent method taking into account exchange-correlation effects together with strain and nonparabolicity effects. These present results indicate that the electronic parameters in modulation-doped InxGa1−xAs/InyAl1−yAs step quantum wells are significantly affected by an embedded barrier.