Interaction effects in conductivity of Si inversion layers at intermediate temperatures.

We compare the temperature dependence of resistivity rho(T) of Si-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with the recent theory by Zala et al. In this comparison, the effective mass m* and g* factor for mobile electrons have been determined from independent measurements. An anomalous increase of rho with temperature, which has been considered as a signature of the "metallic" state, can be described quantitatively by the interaction effects in the ballistic regime.

Low-density spin susceptibility and effective mass of mobile electrons in Si inversion layers.

We studied the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations in high-mobility Si-MOS samples over a wide range of carrier densities n approximately (1-50)x10(11) cm(-2), which includes the vicinity of the apparent metal-insulator transition in two dimensions (2D MIT). Using a novel technique of measuring the SdH oscillations in superimposed and independently controlled parallel and perpendicular magnetic fields, we determined the spin susceptibility chi(*), the effective mass m(*), and the g(*) factor for mobile electrons. These quantities increase gradually with decreasing density; near the 2D MIT, we observed enhancement of chi(*) by a factor of approximately 4.

Weak anisotropy and disorder dependence of the in-plane magnetoresistance in high-mobility (100) Si-inversion layers.

We report studies of the magnetoresistance (MR) in a two-dimensional electron system in (100) Si-inversion layers, for perpendicular and parallel orientations of the current with respect to the magnetic field in the 2D plane. The magnetoresistance is almost isotropic; this result does not support the suggestion of its orbital origin. In the hopping regime, however, the MR contains a weak anisotropic component that is nonmonotonic in the magnetic field.

Exclusion of quantum coherence as the origin of the 2D metallic state in high-mobility silicon inversion layers.

The temperature and density dependence of the phase coherence time tau(phi) in high-mobility silicon inversion layers was determined from the magnetoresistivity due to weak localization. The upper temperature limit for single-electron quantum interference effects was delineated by comparing tau(phi) with the momentum relaxation time tau. A comparison between the density dependence of the borders for quantum interference effects and the strong resistivity drop reveals that these effects are not related to each other.