2D electrons floating on a suspended atomically thin dielectric

TL;DR

This paper investigates the behavior of two-dimensional electrons near atomically thin dielectrics, analyzing their scattering, relaxation, and transport properties at low temperatures and varying electron densities, with implications for high-mobility electronic regimes.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical analysis of electron scattering, relaxation, and transport in 2D electron systems on suspended atomically thin dielectrics, considering phonon interactions and bending effects.

Findings

Momentum relaxation times vary significantly with temperature, density, and layer number.

Transport can shift from polaron-like to high-mobility regimes depending on conditions.

Conditions for electron heating under weak electric fields are established.

Abstract

The 2D electrons trapped in vacuum near the atomically thin dielectric (ATD, mono- or $N$-layer film of $h$-BN or transition metal dichalcogenide) are considered. ATD is suspended above the back gate and forms the capacitor which is controlled by the biased voltage determining 2D concentration, $n_{2D}$. It is found that the leakage current through ATD is negligible and effect of the polarizability of ATD is weak if $N\leq 5$. At temperatures $T=0.1\div$15 K and $n_{2D}=5\times 10^8\div 10^{10}$ cm$^{-2}$, one deals with the Boltzmann liquid of the macroscopic thickness $\sim$100 A. Due to bending of ATD the quadratic dispersion law of the flexural vibrations is transformed into the linear one at small wave vectors. The scattering processes of the electrons caused by these phonons or the monolayer islands on ATD are examined and the momentum and energy relaxation rates are analyzed based on the corresponding balance equations. The momentum relaxation times varies over orders of magnitude in the above region ($T$, $n_{2D}$) and $N$. The response may changed from the polaron transport, for a perfect single-layer ATD at low $T$ and high $n_{2D}$, to the high-mobility ($\geq 10^7$ cm$^2$/Vs) regime at high $T$ and low $n_{2D}$. The quasi-elastic energy relaxation due to the phonon-induced scattering is considered and the conditions for heating of electrons by a weak in-plane electric field are found.