Temperature dependence of DC transport characteristics for a two-dimensional electron gas in an undoped Si/SiGe heterostructure

We investigate DC characteristics of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in an undoped Si/SiGe heterostructure and its temperature dependence. An insulated-gate field-effect transistor was fabricated, and transfer characteristics were measured at 4 K–300 K. At low temperatures (T < 45 K), source electrons are injected into the buried 2DEG channel first and drain current increases with the gate voltage. By increasing the gate voltage further, the current saturates followed by a negative transconductance observed, which can be attributed to electron tunneling from the buried channel to the surface channel. Finally, the drain current is saturated again at large gate biases due to parallel conduction of buried and surface channels. By increasing the temperature, an abrupt increase in threshold voltage is observed at T ∼ 45 K and it is speculated that negatively charged impurities at the Al₂O₃/Si interface are responsible for the threshold voltage shift. At T > 45 K, the current saturation and negative transconductance disappear and the device acts as a normal transistor.