STM studies on quantum wire structures in air and liquid helium

Abstract

In this work, low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies on quantum wires are reported, which were fabricated by laser holography and wet chemical etching. Inverted heterostructures with thin and highly doped cap layers were used as substrates in order to keep the total tunneling barrier as small as possible. Current—voltage curves were measured on the wires and in the depleted areas between them. Between the wires, significant current is only observed for electrons which tunnel from the GaAs valence band into the STM tip, whereas symmetric curren voltage curves are observed on the wires. This behavior is ascribed to the influence of surface depletion and thus, a comparison of current imaging spectroscopy data taken at 300 K and in liquid helium directly yields the edge depletion width of the quantum wires.