High-current breakdown of the quantum Hall effect and electron heating in InSb/AlInSb

We report measurements of the temperature and electric field dependent breakdown of the quantum Hall effect in two-dimensional InSb/AlInSb heterostructures. The electron temperature T-e is studied as a function of electric field and it is shown that the energy loss rates of electrons to the lattice follow a (T-e(3) - T-L(3)) dependence for 2 K < T-e < 22 K at a lattice temperature T-L = 1.5 K. The high-current induced breakdown of the quantum Hall effect (QHE) is linearly proportional to sample width as deduced from the Hall resistivity and shows breakdown at lower current densities as deduced from the resistivity (rho xx) due to nonuniformity in carrier density. Temperature dependent studies show that the quantum Hall effect persists to considerably higher temperatures than the conventional GaAs/AlGaAs system. Using the energy loss rates, we describe the QHE breakdown in terms of bootstrap-type electron heating.