Effects of repulsive and attractive ionized impurities on the resistivity of semiconductor heterostructures in the quantum Hall regime

We have investigated experimentally and theoretically the effect of repulsive and attractive ionized impurities on the resistivity components (ρxx and ρxy) in the quantum Hall effect regime. GaAs/GaAlAs asymmetric modulation-doped quantum wells with additional delta doping (by Si donor atoms or Be acceptor atoms) in the GaAs channel or at the AlGaAs/GaAs interface has been grown using molecular beam epitaxy technique. Magnetotransport experiments, performed on samples doped with Si-attractive atoms, showed a plateau width increasing toward lower magnetic field at even filling factor. However, when samples were delta doped with Be repulsive atoms, the increase was observed in the opposite side. Part of the results was explained using a model based on the fifth Klauder's approximations where we demonstrate that the asymmetrical increase of the Hall plateaus with even filling factor (Landau gaps) is related to the asymmetry induced in the density of states by the additional impurities: the resulting disorder short range potential broadens and shifts the Landau levels but also creates impurity bands on the lower energy side of the Landau levels in the case of donors and on the upper energy side of the Landau levels in the case of acceptors. We notice that this asymmetrical behavior was not experimentally observed for odd filling factor plateaus (exchange gaps). We have also experimentally underscored the screening effect by free two-dimensional electrons of this disorder short range potential. Moreover, for delta-doped Be samples, the whole ν=1 Hall plateau was shifted toward higher magnetic field with respect to the classical Hall effect. This shift, observed for all samples, cannot be explained by the asymmetry of the density of states but rather by a magnetic delocalization of electrons from the upper energy impurity band associated with the last Landau level (n=0) into the free n=0 Landau states when this impurity band overtakes the Fermi level at the end of the ν=2 plateau. This magnetic delocalization effect is the opposite effect of the magnetic freeze out. © 2009 The American Physical Society