In-plane Magnetoconductivity of Si-MOSFET's: A Quantitative Comparison between Theory and Experiment

TL;DR

This study compares experimental measurements of in-plane magnetoconductivity in Si-MOSFETs with theoretical predictions, finding good agreement in magnetic response but discrepancies in zero-field temperature dependence, indicating additional scattering effects.

Contribution

It provides a detailed quantitative comparison between theory and experiment for magnetoconductivity in Si-MOSFETs, highlighting limitations of current theoretical models.

Findings

Excellent agreement with theory for magnetic field response.

Discrepancies in zero-field temperature dependence.

Evidence of additional scattering processes not in current theory.

Abstract

For densities above $n=1.6 \times 10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$ in the strongly interacting system of electrons in two-dimensional silicon inversion layers, excellent agreement between experiment and the theory of Zala, Narozhny and Aleiner is obtained for the response of the conductivity to a magnetic field applied parallel to the plane of the electrons. However, the Fermi liquid parameter $F_0^\sigma(n)$ and the valley splitting $\Delta_V(n)$ obtained from fits to the magnetoconductivity, although providing qualitatively correct behavior (including sign), do not yield quantitative agreement with the temperature dependence of the conductivity in zero magnetic field. Our results suggest the existence of additional scattering processes not included in the theory in its present form.