VII. The Hall effect in inversion layers

Abstract

After a brief account of inversion layers, the independent-particle mobility-edge and percolation models are described and their predictions for the inversion layer system outlined. A review of the observed behaviour of the Hall effect and the conductivity shows that neither is normally consistent with either model. The results show that there is a region in which essentially all the carriers participate in conduction with a mobility that is activated. The results are consistent, however, with the electron-liquid model according to which correlation is so dominant that the carriers become localized in the Wigner sense and flow past the disorder like a viscous liquid. It is suggested that correlation must always become dominant sufficiently close to any metal-insulator transition.