Interaction Effects in Electron Transport in Si Inversion Layers

Abstract

By preparing the two-dimensional (2D) electron system under different physical environment, we outlined the parameter space where the electron transport can be parametrized by the strength of disorder (momentum relaxation time, quantum time, phase breaking time, mobility, density of charged and neutral scatterers, etc.), and the strength of e-e interaction (two Fermi-liquid constants). In the regime of small resistivity ρ<0.1 h / e 2 , the electron transport is “universal”, i.e. its temperature and magnetic field dependences are determined by the strengths of disorder and interaction. The transport, thus, can be compared with theories containing the above set of parameters. In the universal regime, we found that the temperature dependence of resistivity ρ( T ) is quantitatively consistent with the recent theory by Zala et al. without any fitting parameters. An anomalous increase of ρ with temperature, which has been considered a signature of the “metallic” state, can be described quantitatively by the int...