Transient and persistent current induced conductivity changes in GaAs/AlGaAs high-electron-mobility transistors

We report the observation of a current induced change of the low temperature conductivity of two-dimensional electron gases in GaAs/AlGaAs-high-electron-mobility transistors. By applying voltage pulses on the ohmic contacts of a Hall bar-mesa-structure, both sheet-carrier-density n2D and electron mobility μ are decreased. At temperatures below 50 K, a persistent change combined with a partial transient recovery of n2D has been observed. The transient behaviour and the lateral spreading of the effect are studied. Moreover, a temperature dependent investigation has been done in order to get insight into the addressed defect energy levels. A model based on the phenomenology of the effect is proposed. The observed effect is not a permanent degradation as the original carrier concentration can be restored by warming up the sample to room temperature and recooling it.