Möbius Semiconductor Nanostructures and Deformation Potential Strain Effects

Abstract

A discussion of Mobius nanostructures is presented with focus on (1) the accuracy of the approximate differential-geometry formalism by Gravesen and Willatzen and (2) to assess the influence of bending-induced strain on Schrodinger equation eigenstates in semiconductor Mobius structures. The differential-geometry model assumed complete confinement of a quantum-mechanical particle to a zero-thickness Mobius structure where the shape was computed based on minimization of elastic bending energy only and imposing the relevant boundary conditions. In the latter work, while bending was accounted for in finding the shape of the Mobius structure it was, for simplicity, neglected altogether in determining the direct strain influence on electronic eigenstates. However, as is well-known, deformation-potential strain effects in many semiconductor materials can lead to important changes in not only the energy levels but, perhaps more so, the symmetry of the associated eigenstates and, henceforth, optical and electronic properties. In this, work we investigate finite-thickness effects of different-sized Mobius structures as well as deformation-potential hydrostatic strain implications using the Finite Element Model commercial software COMSOL. The paper contains a detailed comparison of general Finite Element Model results with the differential-geometry method.