A few electrons per ion scenario for the B=0 metal-insulator transition in two dimensions

Abstract

We argue on the basis of experimental numbers that the B=0 metal-insulator transition in two dimensions, observed in Si-MOSFETs and in other two-dimensional systems, is likely to be due to a few strongly interacting electrons, which also interact strongly with the random positively ionized impurities. At the insulating side the electrons are all bound in pairs to the ions. On the metallic side free electrons exist which are scattered by ions dressed with electron-pairs and therefore alter the bare scattering potential of the ions. The physics at the metallic side of the transition is argued to be controlled by the classical to quantum transport cross-over leading to the observed non-monotonous dependence of the resistivity on temperature. This few electrons per ion scenario appears to be an experimentally realistic and testable scenario, which can also serve as a starting point for further theoretical analysis of the two-dimensional metal-insulator transition.

8 pages, revised version, minor changes

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• Comment on "Charged impurity scattering limited low temperature resistivity of low density silicon inversion layers" (Das Sarma and Hwang, cond-mat/9812216)

Cited by in corpus (23)

• Metallic behavior and related phenomena in two dimensions
• Singular Fermi Liquids
• The Observation of Percolation-Induced 2D Metal-Insulator Transition in a Si MOSFET
• Metal-insulator transition in 2D: resistance in the critical region
• Metallic low-temperature resistivity in 2D over an extended temperature range
• Weak anisotropy and disorder dependence of the in-plane magnetoresistance in high mobility (100) Si-inversion layers
• The 2D metal-insulator transition as a strong localization induced crossover phenomenon
• Response to Parallel Magnetic Field of a Dilute 2D Electron System across the Metal-Insulator Transition
• Temperature-Dependence of the Resistivity of a Dilute 2D Electron System in High Parallel Magnetic Field
• The energy scale behind the metallic behaviors in low-density Si-MOSFETs
• No indications of metal-insulator transition for systems of interacting electrons in two dimensions
• The relative importance of electron-electron interactions compared to disorder in the two-dimensional "metallic" state
• Metal-insulator transition in 2D: a role of the upper Habbard band
• The Parallel Magnetoconductance of Interacting Electrons in a Two Dimensional Disordered System
• Localization and conductance in the quantum Coulomb glass
• Evidence of the Coulomb gap in the density of states of MoS${}_2$
• Anderson localization crossover in 2D Si systems: The past and the present
• Interface charged impurity scattering in semiconductor MOSFETs and MODFETs: temperature dependent resistivity and 2D "metallic" behavior
• Two electrons in a two dimensional random potential: exchange, interaction and localization
• The metal-insulator transition in 2D systems at T = 0: one-particle approach
• "Unusual" metals in two dimensions: one-particle model of the metal-insulator transition at T=0
• Nonmonotonic Temperature Dependence of the Hall Resistance for 2D Electron System in Si
• Dipole trap model for the metallic state in gated silicon-inversion layers