QUANTUM WIRES WITH CONTROLLABLE CONDUCTING-CHANNEL WIDTH BASED ON IN0.53GA0.47AS INP HETEROSTRUCTURES/

The test samples were quantum wires with submicron dimensions (as smal l as 0.3 mum) based on selectively doped, anisotypic, inverted In0.53G a0.47As/InP heterostructures. A method based on photolithography and a two-step selective chemical etching was developed for fabricating the se samples. The low-temperature galvanomagnetic properties of the elec tron gas in thin quantum wires and in a wide sample are compared. The negative magnetoresistance of thin wires in various states of the samp le in the regime of a persistent photoconductivity is analyzed. Illumi nation with the beam from a GaAs LED can vary the surface concentratio n of carriers over the range (0.5-3.2) X 10(11) cm-2, and it can vary the width of the conducting channel in the quantum wires from 3 to 900 nm. Because of the persistent photoconductivity, these changes remain after the light is turned off.