Negative persistent photoconductivity in the Al0.6Ga0.4Sb/InAs quantum wells

Abstract
We have measured the Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) effect in the Al0.6Ga0.4Sb/InAs quantum wells under the negative persistent photoconductivity (NPPC) conductions. By illuminating the sample at low‐temperature, the carrier concentration of the two‐dimensional electron gas in the InAs well was reduced from 5.8 to 3.6×1011 cm−2 and the corresponding quantum lifetime increases from 0.16 to 0.21 ps. The electrons which escaped from the InAs well were captured by the ionized deep donors in the Al0.6Ga0.4Sb layers. The effective mass is equal to (0.0317±0.0005)m0. We also propose, based on the SdH data, that the illumination of the sample with the ionized deep donors at low temperature will exhibit the NPPC effect.