Electronic Energy Levels in Semiconductor Quantum Wells and Superlattices

Abstract

The last ten years have witnessed an explosive increase of the fundamental and applied researches in quantum heterostructures obtained by refined growth techniques (such as Molecular Beam Epitaxy or Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition). The reason for such a wide interest lays on the possibility of tailoring on the nanometer scale band edge profiles and thus ultimately specific electro-optical functions. The key feature of these man-made heterostructures is the preeminent part played by the quantum effects, such as size quantization, tunnelling phenomena, etc. That quantum effects are so important arises from the smallness of the layer thicknesses. In most cases they are smaller than the de Broglie wavelength of either the electrons or the holes and thus the wave-like nature of the charge carriers necessarily comes into play. In the following, we present a brief survey of the results which have been achieved in the theoretical understanding of the electronic properties of semiconductor quantum wells and superlattices during the last decade.KeywordsMetal Organic Chemical Vapor DepositionGrowth AxisHeavy HoleExciton Binding EnergyLight HoleThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.