Anisotropic Transport of Electrons in a Novel FET Channel with Chains of InGaAs Nano-Islands Embedded along Quasi-Periodic Multi-Atomic Steps on Vicinal (111)B GaAs

We have studied electron transport in n-AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction FET channels, in which chains of InGaAs nano-islands are embedded along quasi-periodic steps. By using two samples, conductance G{sub para}(V{sub g}) parallel to the steps and G{sub perp}(V{sub g}) perpendicular to them were measured at 80 K as functions of gate voltage V{sub g}. At sufficiently high V{sub g}, G{sub para} at 80 K is several times as high as G{sub perp}, which manifests the anisotropic two-dimensional transport of electrons. When V{sub g} is reduced to -0.7 V, G{sub perp} almost vanishes, while {sub Gpara} stays sizable unless V{sub g} is set below -0.8 V. These results indicate that 'inter-chain' barriers play stronger roles than 'intra-chain' barriers.