The so-called two dimensional metal–insulator transition

Abstract

We provide a critical perspective on the collection of low-temperature transport phenomena in low-density 2D semiconductor systems often referred to as the 2D metal–insulator transition. We discuss the physical mechanisms underlying the anomalous behavior of the 2D effective metallic phase and the metal–insulator transition itself. We argue that a key feature of the 2D MIT physics is the long-range bare Coulombic disorder arising from the random distribution of charged impurities in the low-density 2D semiconductor structures.