Current contacts and the breakdown of the quantum Hall effect

The nonlinearities in the I-V characteristics have been studied of high-mobility Si metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors in the quantum Hall regime. The breakdown curves were measured with different sets of voltage contacts and for different directions of magnetic field and current. Comparison of these curves shows that the breakdown of the quantum Hall effect (QHE) in these samples is an intrinsic effect that starts at the current contact where the electrons are injected into the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). This fundamental asymmetry and the crucial role of the current contact are explained using the Büttiker-Landauer approach to the QHE and its recent extension to the nonlinear regime. The electron-injection process contains two mechanisms that lead to breakdown voltages in the 2DEG. We have identified both experimentally by comparing the critical currents of different configurations of current and voltage contacts. In one of the mechanisms, the nonequilibrium distribution of electrons that is injected into the 2DEG extends to the voltage contacts. This means that the equilibration length of the 2D electrons is at least of the order of 100 μm. For currents far beyond breakdown and for voltage contacts that are further from the electron-injection contact, the breakdown characteristics are harder to understand. The variation of the electron density of the 2DEG due to the large Hall voltage has to be taken into account as well as the equilibration induced by additional voltage contacts