Incompressible electron phase in field-effect transistors

Abstract

The formation of regions of compressible and incompressible phases in the quantum Hall effect regime has been considered for a two-dimensional (2D) electron system that is created in a field-effect transistor. This effect arises from long-period fluctuations of the density of ionized donors supplying electrons to the 2D system. It is shown that the motion of these regions caused by variations of the average electron density gives rise to minima in the capacitance of the capacitor formed by the 2D electron system and the transistor gate. When the corrections to the capacitance are small, the shape of the minima reproduces the donor density distribution function. Experimental data are presented that demonstrate good agreement with the predictions of the model.