Linear resistivity in 2D doped silicon

Linear temperature dependence of the resistivity of a variety of materials (strange metals or high carrier density metals) has previously been characterized using the concept of a Planckian bound, where the timescale for inelastic scattering from any source obeys τ > τ_Pl = k_BT/ħ. Semiconductor materials, with a wide range of tunable parameters, represent ideal systems for testing concepts related to the Planckian bound but have been limited to 2D quantum well systems (e.g. GaAs), which are generally in the clean and low density limits. Here, we examine the temperature-dependent resistivity of a 2D sheet of highly doped silicon, representing the high disorder & high carrier density limits. We find the resistivity of the material to increase linearly up to 300K. We discuss this result in context of the Planckian bound.

This work was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at Sandia National Laboratories and was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a U.S. DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences user facility. SNL is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government.