On the temperature dependence of 2D "metallic" conductivity in Si inversion layers at intermediate temperatures

TL;DR

This paper critically examines claims of interaction effects in 2D Si inversion layers' conductivity at intermediate temperatures, demonstrating that the observed temperature dependence aligns with semiclassical theory rather than novel interaction phenomena.

Contribution

The paper refutes previous claims of interaction effects in 2D Si inversion layers and shows that standard semiclassical theory explains the observed conductivity behavior.

Findings

The linear temperature regime in conductivity is not observed, making slope extraction arbitrary.

Semiclassical transport theory matches experimental data at higher densities.

Interaction effects are not necessary to explain the temperature dependence.

Abstract

We show that the recent experimental claim [Pudalov {\it et al}. \prl {\bf 91}, 126403 (2003) ] of observing ``interaction effects in the conductivity of Si inversion layers at intermediate temperatures'' is incorrect and misleading. In particular, the temperature dependent conductivity $\sigma$, in contrast to the resistivity (which is what is shown in the paper), does not have a linear temperature regime, rendering the extraction of the slope $d\sigma/dT$ completely arbitrary. We also show that, at least for higher densities, the standard semiclassical transport theory, which includes realistic disorder effects such as scattering by {\it screened} charged impurity and surface roughness, gives essentially quantitative agreement with the experimental data.