PERCOLATION APPROACH TO THE METAL–INSULATOR TRANSITION IN TWO DIMENSIONS

Abstract

A simple non-interacting-electron model, combining local quantum tunneling via quantum point contacts and global classical percolation, is introduced in order to describe the observed "metal–insulator transition" in two dimensions.1 It is shown that many features of the experiments, such as the exponential dependence of the resistance on temperature on the metallic side, the linear dependence of the exponent on density, the e2/h scale of the critical resistance, the quenching of the metallic phase by a parallel magnetic field and the non-monotonic dependence of the critical density on a perpendicular magnetic field, can be naturally explained by the model.