On the metallic state in high-mobility silicon inversion and silicon-on-insulator layers

It is shown that the electronic conduction in silicon-on-insulator layers exhibits a metallic regime which is very similar to that in high-mobility Si-metal oxide semiconductor structures. The strong drop in resistivity and the critical concentration for the metal–insulator transition are consistent. From the investigation of the magnetoresistance of the weak localization, it is seen that the strong resistivity drop occurs at high densities in the absence of phase coherence. This suggests the charged hole trap model and impurity screening to be the origin of the strong resistivity drop towards lower temperatures.