On the imaging of electron transport in semiconductor quantum structures by scanning-gate microscopy: successes and limitations
Abstract
This paper presents a brief review of scanning-gate microscopy applied to the imaging of electron transport in buried semiconductor quantum structures. After an introduction to the technique and to some of its practical issues, we summarise a selection of its successful achievements found in the literature, including our own research. The latter focuses on the imaging of GaInAs-based quantum rings both in the low magnetic field Aharonov-Bohm regime and in the high-field quantum Hall regime. Based on our own experience, we then discuss in detail some of the limitations of scanning-gate microscopy. These include possible tip induced artefacts, effects of a large bias applied to the scanning tip, as well as consequences of unwanted charge traps on the conductance maps. We emphasize how special care must be paid in interpreting these scanning-gate images.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1104.2032,
title = {On the imaging of electron transport in semiconductor quantum structures by scanning-gate microscopy: successes and limitations},
author = {Hermann Sellier and Benoit Hackens and Marco Pala and Frederico Martins and Samuel Baltazar and Xavier Wallart and Ludovic Desplanque and Vincent Bayot and Serge Huant},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1104.2032},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
Special issue on (nano)characterization of semiconductor materials and structures