# Quantum conductivity corrections in two dimensional long-range disordered systems with strong spin-orbit splitting of electron spectrum.

## Abstract

We study quantum corrections to conductivity in a 2D system with a smooth random potential and strong spin-orbit splitting of the spectrum. We show that the interference correction is positive and down to the very low temperature can exceed the negative correction related to electron-electron interaction. We discuss this result in the context of the problem of the metal-insulator transition in Si-MOSFET structures.

Recent experiments on the high-mobility Si-MOSFET  and other  structures have demonstrated the possibility of the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in two-dimensional (2D) electronic systems. It has been found that when electron density $`n`$ becomes larger than some critical value $`n_c`$ the system exhibits a metallic behavior. This result is rather surprising because it contradicts the common belief, based on the predictions of the one-parameter scaling theory , that all electronic states in a 2D disordered system should be localized.

The theory  deals with noninteracting electrons. Meanwhile, the peculiarity of the observed MIT is that it occurs at a very low electron density when the Coulomb interaction energy is larger than the Fermi energy. This hints that the role of the electron-electron interaction is very important and the transition is determined by the interplay between the interaction and disorder. First, the arguments supporting the possibility of the interaction driven MIT in a 2D system were put forward in the old work by Finkelstein , where the renormalization of the triplet channel coupling constant played a key role. The experiments  stimulated intensive discussion of Finkelstein approach anew .

The calculations  were performed under the assumption that the spin-orbit interaction is absent in the system. However, according to the work , used in the experiments Si-MOSFET structures (in these structures MIT is most conspicuous) have a strong spin-orbit splitting of the electron energy spectrum due to the built-in electric field of an asymmetric quantum well. Moreover, the value of the spectrum splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is estimated in  to be larger than $`\mathrm{}/\tau `$, where $`\tau `$ is the elastic mean free time. In this situation the contribution of the triplet channel is strongly suppressed and the Finkelstein approach may turn out not relevant to the concrete experimental situation. This circumstance has initiated theoretical investigation of quantum conductivity corrections in systems with an arbitrary relation between the splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`\mathrm{}/\tau `$ . The calculations have been performed for the case of a short-range impurity potential. It has been shown that at a rather small splitting the interference correction to the conductivity changes sign and becomes antilocalizing. For a strong splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau \mathrm{}`$ the correction arises due to the interference of two electronic waves with the total spin equal to zero and is given by

$$\delta \sigma _{wl}=\frac{e^2}{4\pi ^2\mathrm{}}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\tau _\varphi }{\tau }.$$
(1)   
Here $`\tau _\varphi `$ is the phase breaking time, which at sufficiently low temperatures $`T`$ is governed solely by electron-electron collisions, and is inversely proportional to $`T`$ . The result (1) is analogous to the well-known result  for the case of a strong spin-orbit scattering on a random potential.

Generally speaking, the change in a sign of the quantum correction to the conductivity indicates the possibility of MIT . However, it is commonly believed (see for example recent discussion ) that such a change in the interference correction due to spin-orbit interaction does not provide a metallic behavior of a 2D system. Indeed, besides the positive interference correction there exists also a negative Aronov-Altshuler quantum correction related to electron-electron exchange interaction in the singlet channel, which is not strongly affected by spin-orbit interaction 

$$\delta \sigma _{ee}=\frac{e^2}{2\pi ^2\mathrm{}}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\mathrm{}}{T\tau }.$$
(2)   
The Hartree contribution to conductivity correction is absent in this situation, because it arises due to the interaction in the triplet channel and is suppressed in the presence of a strong spin-orbit coupling .

At low temperatures the absolute value of $`\delta \sigma _{ee}`$ exceeds the quantity in Eq. (1). Therefore the total conductivity correction is negative and logarithmically diverges as $`T`$ decreases, which corresponds to insulating behavior.

In the presence of the valley degeneracy Eq.(1) is valid at $`\tau _\varphi \tau _v`$, where $`\tau _v`$ is the characteristic time of intervalley scattering. In the opposite limiting case $`\tau _\varphi \tau _v`$ valleys are independent, interference corrections from each valley are added together, and the expression (1) is multiplied by the number of valleys $`N_v`$. At the same time the expression for $`\delta \sigma _{ee}`$ does not contain $`N_v`$ (Refs. ) and the temperature dependence of the total correction is given by

$$\delta \sigma _{tot}=\frac{e^2}{2\pi ^2\mathrm{}}\left(\frac{N_v}{2}1\right)\mathrm{ln}\frac{\mathrm{}}{T\tau }.$$
(3)   
Hence it follows that the existence of several valleys diminishes the relative role of the localization effects and may lead to the antilocalization in the temperature interval, where $`\tau _\varphi \tau _v`$. However, at $`N_v=2`$ (which corresponds to the case of Si-MOSFET structures ) the effect of the valley degeneracy still does not lead to a metallic behavior. Indeed, as follows from (3), the total conductivity correction does not depend on the temperature in this case. This result is correct if we completely neglect the transitions between valleys, i.e. to the zeroth order in the parameter $`\tau _\varphi /\tau _v`$. One can show, however, that already to the first order in this parameter the conductivity slowly decreases with decreasing temperature, i.e. taking into account of arbitrary weak intervalley transitions leads to insulating behavior.

In this work we investigate the effect of the strong spin-orbit splitting of the spectrum ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau \mathrm{}`$) on the quantum corrections to the conductivity of electrons moving in a smooth random potential. We do not intend to explain the metal-insulator transition. All we are going to do is to calculate the quantum conductivity corrections in the range of large conductance values, i.e., far from the transition ($`nn_c`$). The inequality $`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau \mathrm{}`$ allows us to neglect the contributions of the triplet channels in the interference correction as well as in the interaction correction. The results differ essentially from the case of a short-range impurity potential: when the spectrum splitting is strong enough the positive interference conductivity correction is two times larger than the value given by Eq. (1) down to very low temperatures. As a consequence, the total conductivity correction (with the electron-electron interaction and the valley degeneracy taken into account) turns out to be antilocalizing and the system exhibits a metallic behavior: the resistivity decreases with temperature decreasing.

This result is related to the fact that, in contrast to the case of point-like impurities, in a smooth potential transitions between spin subbands are strongly suppressed and each valley breaks up into two independent subsystems. Thus in the case of two valleys the quantity $`N_v`$ in the expression (3) effectively is equal to $`4`$ instead of $`2`$. Note, that in experiments  the disorder was created mainly by ionized impurities located in the oxide layer and therefore the random potential was long-ranged.

We restrict ourselves to a consideration of the system at high densities $`n`$, in which the Fermi energy $`E_F`$ is much greater than the Coulomb energy. We consider the case of a single valley first. The term in the Hamiltonian of noninteracting electrons, which is responsible for the spin-orbit splitting of the energy spectrum (so-called Rashba term) is given by $`\alpha ([\widehat{\sigma }\times 𝐤]𝐧)`$. Here the quantity $`\alpha `$ is a constant characterizing the strength of the spin-orbit interaction, the operator $`\widehat{\sigma }`$ is a vector, consisting of the Pauli matrices, $`\mathrm{}𝐤`$ is the momentum of an electron and the vector $`𝐧`$ is the unit vector normal to the 2D layer. The energy spectrum and wavefunctions of an electron with the effective mass $`m`$ read

$$E^\pm (𝐤)=\frac{\mathrm{}^2k^2}{2m}\pm \alpha k,\varphi _𝐤^\pm (𝐫)=\mathrm{exp}(i\mathrm{𝐤𝐫})\chi _𝐤^\pm ,\chi _𝐤^\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ \pm ie^{i\phi _𝐤}\end{array}\right)$$
(4)   
Spinors $`\chi _𝐤^\pm `$ depend on the polar angle $`\phi _𝐤`$ of the wave vector $`𝐤`$, and describe two states with the spins polarized parallel to the vectors $`\pm [𝐤\times 𝐧]`$, respectively. Thus the system is divided into two subsystems (branches), ”$`+`$” and ”$``$”, each one having the spin of an electron rigidly connected to the momentum.

A random smooth impurity potential $`U(𝐫)`$ has a correlation function $`K(r)=U(𝐫)U(0)`$, falling off at the scale $`dk_F^1`$. The potential is assumed to be weak enough, so that the following inequalities are held: $`E_F\tau \mathrm{}`$ and $`\tau d/v_F`$. The presence of this potential leads to transitions both within each branch, and between different branches. The respective (intrabranch and interbranch) times of these transitions are given by the following expression

$$\frac{1}{\tau _{\mu \nu }}=\frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{}}\frac{d^2𝐪}{(2\pi )^2}K_{\mu \nu }(𝐪)\delta [E^\mu (𝐤)E^\nu (𝐤𝐪)],$$
(5)   
where $`K_{\mu \nu }(𝐪)=|\chi _𝐤^\mu |\chi _{𝐤𝐪}^\nu |^2K(q)`$, indices $`\mu `$ and $`\nu `$ signify the type of the branch ($`+`$ or $``$), and the function $`K(q)`$ is the Fourier-transform of the potential correlator with a characteristic scale $`d^1`$. Further we assume that the spin-orbit splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }=2\alpha k_F`$ is less than the Fermi energy $`E_F`$. In this case we can set $`\tau _{++}=\tau _{}=\tau `$, $`\tau _+=\tau _+=\tau _{}`$. The minimal transferred momentum needed for the transition between branches is determined by the delta-function in (5) and is equal to $`2m\alpha /\mathrm{}`$. If in addition to the inequality $`\mathrm{\Delta }\tau \mathrm{}`$ the stronger one

$$m\alpha d\mathrm{}^2$$
(6)   
is fulfilled, then interbranch transitions are suppressed compared to transitions within one branch. In particular, for the case of the potential created by ionized impurities located at distance $`d`$ from the 2D layer, the correlation function $`K(q)\mathrm{exp}(2qd)`$, and the interbranch transition time is given by

$$\tau _{}=4(k_Fd)^2\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{4m\alpha d}{\mathrm{}^2}\right)\tau .$$
(7)   
The factor $`(k_Fd)^2`$ in this expression appears due to the orthogonality of the spinors corresponding to different branches and to identically directed momenta. It is worth noting that when an electron is scattered by a point-like impurity potential, an arbitrary momentum transfer is possible ($`K(q)=const`$) and as a consequence, the value of $`\tau _{}`$ is of the same order as the intrabranch transition time.

Let us consider the interference conductivity correction, neglecting for a while the electron-electron interactions. On the time scale less than $`\tau _{}`$ interbranch transitions are absent and the system may be treated as consisting of two independent subsystems, corresponding to two uncoupled branches. Therefore for at $`\tau _\varphi \tau _{}`$ the interference conductivity correction is equal to sum of the interference corrections of two branches. In each branch this correction is given by

$$\delta \sigma _{wl}^+=\delta \sigma _{wl}^{}=(1/2)(e^2/2\pi ^2\mathrm{})\mathrm{ln}(\tau _\varphi /\tau _{tr}),$$

where $`\tau _{tr}(k_Fd)^2\tau `$ is the transport scattering time. Calculations are similar to those in the works  where the weak localization correction has been derived in the case of a smooth potential in the absence of spin-orbit splitting. However, in our case the result is two times less in the absolute value and has the opposite sign, i.e., we have the antilocalizing correction. The factor $`1/2`$ arises due to the fact that calculating the contribution of one branch, we take into account only one spin state. The difference in the sign of the conductivity correction is caused by spinor transformation properties: under rotation by an angle of $`2\pi `$ the spin wavefunction is multiplied by $`1`$. Indeed, the correction $`\delta \sigma _{wl}`$ is related to the effective change of the backscattering amplitude due to the interference of two electron waves, propagating along closed paths in the opposite directions. In our case the spin is always perpendicular to the momentum and is rotated by an angle of $`\pi `$ along one of the interfering paths and by $`\pi `$ along oncoming one. As a result the relative rotation of spins of the two interfering waves is equal to $`2\pi `$. This leads to the change of the correction sign . The total interference correction is given by

$$\delta \sigma _{wl}=\delta \sigma _{wl}^++\delta \sigma _{wl}^{}=\frac{e^2}{2\pi ^2\mathrm{}}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\tau _\varphi }{\tau _{tr}}.$$
(8)   
When the relation between $`\tau _\varphi `$ and $`\tau _{}`$ is arbitrary calculations can be performed using the method of solution of the Cooperon equation in multiband systems, proposed in  and further developed in Ref. . The result reads

$$\delta \sigma _{wl}=\frac{e^2}{4\pi ^2\mathrm{}}\left[\mathrm{ln}\frac{\tau _\varphi }{\tau _{tr}}+\mathrm{ln}\frac{\tau _\varphi \tau _{}}{(2\tau _\varphi +\tau _{})\tau _{tr}}\right].$$
(9)   
At $`\tau _\varphi \tau _{}`$ this expression turns into Eq. (8). In the limit $`\tau _\varphi \tau _{}`$, when on the phase breaking time a large number of transitions between branches takes place , the main contribution in Eq. (9) arises from the first term. This contribution is analogous to Eq. (1) of the point-like potential case.

Eq. (9) can be clarified with help of the following transparent arguments. When the spin-orbit splitting is large enough, two waves propagating along the closed path in the opposite directions, should belong to the same branch between two succeeding scatterings (although, after scattering both waves can change the type of the branch together). Moreover, only those processes are important, in which both waves at the beginning and at the end of the path also belong to one branch. In the opposite case two waves acquire different phases and do not interfere. Then the conductivity correction due to interference of the two waves is proportional to the number of returns of the particle to the initial point and initial branch. Let us estimate this number in the diffusion approximation. The corresponding equations have the form

$`{\displaystyle \frac{c}{t}}D\mathrm{\Delta }c`$ $`=`$ $`\delta (𝐫)\delta (t)+{\displaystyle \frac{c^{}c}{\tau _{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{c}{\tau _\varphi }},`$ (10)   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{c^{}}{t}}D\mathrm{\Delta }c^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{cc^{}}{\tau _{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{c^{}}{\tau _\varphi }}.`$ (11)   
Here $`c(𝐫,t)`$ and $`c^{}(𝐫,t)`$ are the probability densities of finding a particle at the moment $`t`$ in the point $`𝐫`$ in the initial and the second branch respectively, $`D=v_F^2\tau _{tr}/2`$ is a diffusion coefficient. The Fourier-transform of $`c(𝐫,t)`$ is the sum of two pole terms:

$$c_{q,\omega }=\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{1}{Dq^2i\omega +\tau _\varphi ^1}+\frac{1}{Dq^2i\omega +\tau _\varphi ^1+2\tau _{}^1}\right).$$

The number of returns to the initial branch, we are interested in, is proportional to the integral $`_{\tau _{tr}}^{\mathrm{}}c(𝐫=0,t)𝑑t`$, calculating which, one gets the sum of two logarithms in Eq. (9).

Now let us discuss the role of a weak electron-electron interaction in our problem. As usual, it leads to Aronov-Altshuler quantum conductivity correction $`\delta \sigma _{ee}`$ and determines the phase breaking time at low temperatures . In our case electron-electron collisions can also cause transitions between spectrum branches.

It can be shown that the conductivity correction $`\delta \sigma _{ee}`$ is still given by Eq. (2). This is due to the fact, that $`\delta \sigma _{ee}`$ depends on the total probability of particle to propagate from the initial point to the final one, independently from the type of the branch at the end of the path. This probability does not depend on $`\tau _{}`$ which can be demonstrated using Eqs. (11) (in which terms containing $`\tau _\varphi `$ should be omitted). Indeed, the quantity $`\tau _{}`$ goes away from the equation for the sum of $`c`$ and $`c^{}`$. In the other words, the fact of existing of two conducting subsystems, on the one hand, doubles the conductivity correction, but on the other hand, the Coulomb interaction in this case is screened two times stronger due to the same fact. The insensitiveness of $`\delta \sigma _{ee}`$ to the existence of two branches is analogous to the mentioned earlier fact, that the $`\delta \sigma _{ee}`$ does not depend on the number of valleys $`N_v`$.

As far as the time of phase breaking due to electron-electron interaction is concerned, this quantity is also not very sensitive to the spin-orbit interaction and one can use the formula from Ref. :

$$\frac{1}{\tau _\varphi }\frac{T}{E_F\tau _{tr}}\mathrm{ln}\frac{E_F\tau _{tr}}{\mathrm{}}.$$

Transitions between two branches due to electron-electron collisions can be neglected, since the characteristic time of such transitions, $`\tau _{}^{ee}`$, is much larger than $`\tau _\varphi `$ and $`\tau _{}`$ at low temperatures. It is due to the fact, that the minimal momentum transfer in the interbranch transition is much greater than inverse mean free path and when calculating $`\tau _{}^{ee}`$ the diffusion approximation fails. As a result $`\tau _{}^{ee}`$ occurs to be inversely proportional to the squared temperature , so it appears to be larger than either $`\tau _\varphi `$, and $`\tau _{}`$.

Let us now introduce the valley degeneration, assuming that $`\tau _v\tau _{},\tau _\varphi `$. In this case the total quantum conductivity correction is a sum of Eq. (2) (with $`\tau `$ replaced by $`\tau _{tr}`$) and Eq. (9), multiplied by $`N_v`$

$$\delta \sigma _{tot}=\frac{e^2}{2\pi ^2\mathrm{}}\left[\frac{N_v}{2}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\tau _\varphi ^2\tau _{}}{(2\tau _\varphi +\tau _{})\tau _{tr}^2}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\mathrm{}}{T\tau _{tr}}\right].$$
(12)   
At the temperatures

$$T>T_{}\frac{E_F}{\mathrm{ln}(E_F\tau _{tr}/\mathrm{})}\frac{\tau _{tr}}{\tau _{}},$$
(13)   
the phase breaking time appears to be shorter than interbranch transition time ($`\tau _\varphi <\tau _{}`$). In this range of temperatures for the depending on $`T`$ part of the total correction we get

$$\delta \sigma _{tot}=\frac{e^2}{2\pi ^2\mathrm{}}(N_v1)\mathrm{ln}\frac{\mathrm{}}{T\tau _{tr}}.$$
(14)   
From this expression one can see that for $`N_v=2`$ the conductivity increases with decreasing temperature, i.e., a metallic behavior takes place.

In the region $`\tau _\varphi >\tau _{}`$ the conductivity continues to increase very slowly (for $`N_v=2`$) and reaches the value

$$\delta \sigma _{tot}=\frac{e^2}{2\pi ^2\mathrm{}}\mathrm{ln}\frac{E_F\tau _{}}{\mathrm{}}.$$
(15)   
Only at very low temperatures, when the transitions between valleys come into play ( $`\tau _\varphi \tau _v`$ ), the conductivity begins to decrease logarithmically.

We now present some estimations. According to  in the real experimental situation $`\alpha 510^6Kcm`$, $`m=0.2m_e`$, and $`d10^5cm`$. Under these conditions the exponent in Eq. (7) is large, so that $`\tau _{}\tau _{tr}`$. Then at $`n=(5÷10)10^{11}cm^2`$ for $`T_{}`$ we have values of the order of several $`mK`$, which is less than the lowest temperature ($`20mK`$), used in the experiments . Thus a metallic behavior of the 2D electron gas in Si-MOSFETs at low temperatures and high densities $`nn_c`$ could be possibly explained by proposed above mechanism.

Authors are grateful to V.M.Pudalov, M.I.Dyakonov, N.S.Averkiev, and L.E.Golub for useful discussions. This work was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences and INTAS (grant 96-196).