Geometric factors in the magnetoresistance of n-doped InAs epilayers

We investigate the magnetoresistance (MR) effect in n-doped InAs and InAs/metal hybrid devices with geometries tailored to elucidate the physical mechanism and the role of geometry in the MR. Despite the isotropic Fermi surface in InAs, we observe a strong intrinsic MR in the InAs epilayer due to the existence of a surface conducting layer. Experimental comparison confirms that the extraordinary MR in the InAs/metal hybrids outperforms the orbital MR in the Corbino disk in terms of both the MR ratio and the magnetic field resolution. The results also indicate the advantage of a two-contact configuration in the hybrid devices over a four-contact one with respect to the magnetic field resolution. This is in contrast to previously reported results, where performance was evaluated in terms of the MR ratio and a four-contact configuration was found to be optimal. By applying Kohler's rule, we find that at temperatures above 75 K the extraordinary MR violates Kohler's rule, due to multiple relaxation rates, whereas the orbital MR obeys it. This finding can be used to distinguish the two geometric effects, the extraordinary MR and the orbital MR, from each other. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.