Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · cond-mat/0411328

Observation of abrupt first-order metal-insulator transition in GaAs-based two-terminal device

Hyun-Tak Kim·Doo-Hyeb Youn·Byung-Gyu Chae·Kwang-Yong Kang·Yong-Sik Lim
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

An abrupt first-order metal-insulator transition (MIT) as a jump of the density of states is observed for Be doped GaAs, which is known as a semiconductor, by inducing very low holes of approximately n_p=5x10^{14} cm^{-3} into the valence band by the electric field; this is anomalous. In a higher hole doping concentration of n_p=6x10^{16} cm^{-3}, the abrupt MIT is not observed at room temperature, but measured at low temperature. A large discontinuous decrease of photoluminescence intensity at 1.43 eV energy gap and a negative differential resistance are also observed as further evidence of the MIT. The abrupt MIT does not undergo a structural phase transition and is accompanied with inhomogeneity. The upper limit of the temperature allowing the MIT is deduced to be approximately 440K from experimental data. The abrupt MIT rather than the continuous MIT is intrinsic and can explain the "breakdown" phenomenon (unsolved problem) incurred by a high electric field in semiconductor devices.

Explore related subjects

cond-mat.str-elcond-mat.mtrl-sci

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Hyun-Tak Kim, Doo-Hyeb Youn, Byung-Gyu Chae, Kwang-Yong Kang, Yong-Sik Lim. 2004-11-14. Observation of abrupt first-order metal-insulator transition in GaAs-based two-terminal device. https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0411328

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Real-space determination of orbital states driving successive phase transitions in FeV2O4

Direct experimental access to orbital states in strongly correlated materials remains a major challenge, despite their central role in driving coupled structural and magnetic phase transitions. In systems where electronic correlations, electron-lattice coupling, and relativistic spin-orbit interactions compete on comparable energy scales, even first-principles calculations often yield multiple metastable solutions, hindering the unambiguous identification of the ground state. Here, we demonstrate that the orbital states of the spinel oxide FeV2O4, which possesses active orbital degrees of freedom on both Fe and V ions, are uniquely resolved by combining valence electron density (VED) analysis based on state-of-the-art synchrotron x-ray diffraction with spin-polarized density-functional-theory calculations. Our results reveal that temperature-dependent rearrangements of orbital occupations drive successive structural transitions that accompany collinear and noncoplanar ferrimagnetic orders, establishing a direct correspondence between orbital anisotropy and spin structure. More broadly, this work shows that experimentally determined VED provides a decisive real-space constraint on competing theoretical solutions, offering a powerful and broadly applicable framework for elucidating the microscopic mechanisms of complex phase transitions in strongly correlated electron systems.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2026

Macroscopic Zero-Mode Manifold Isolated by Quantum Chaos

Chaotic many-body spectra are expected to densely fill their energy window. We show that constrained spin chains with chiral symmetry evade this expectation by hosting an exponentially large manifold of symmetry-protected exact zero modes separated from the surrounding spectrum by a sharp gap at zero energy. The gap is generated by chaotic level repulsion, with width set by the number of zero modes times the mean level spacing. We verify this mechanism in an East-West kinetically constrained chain, develop a minimal random-matrix description, and show how the gap can be detected through linear-response spectroscopy.

cond-mat.str-el↗
arXiv2026

Textures as a phase-transition probe for quantum spin chains

The idea of quantum texture has been recently proposed and used as a tool for quantifying coherences and for quantum gate identification. In this work we offer a study on its usage to quantum phase transitions, demonstrating the rugosity metric as a simple tool for effective phase-transition probing. We establish the link between rugosity in the computational basis and the hierarchy of spin correlators, and analyze rugosities defined in the global ground-state and in ground-states belonging to different magnetization sectors (to which we refer to as global vs symmetry-resolved rugosities) to study the phase diagram of the Heisenberg XXZ model. We find distinct rugosity signatures at both transition points. In particular, a sharp feature appears at $Δ=1$ already for small systems, revealing a pronounced sensitivity of the correlation hierarchy encoded by the texture to this point. Since the BKT transition coincides with the isotropic $SU(2)$ point of the XXZ model, this behavior may reflect a particular sensitivity of rugosity to the structure of the spin-correlation hierarchy at isotropy.

cond-mat.str-el↗