Simulation of lateral confinement in very narrow channels.

Abstract

A theoretical study is presented of the lateral confinement potential (CP) in the very narrow mesa channels fabricated in the conventional two-dimensional (2D) electron gas in GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs heterostructures. The ID electronic structures are calculated in the framework of the confinement potential: V(x) = m* omega0(2)x2/2 for Absolute value of x <d0/2 and V(x) = infinity at Absolute value of = d0/2 where do and omega0, the parameters characterizing such a composite potential well, are the effective width and the characteristic frequency, respectively. Calculations suggest that, for wires having structural widths W(str) = 1500, 550, and 500 nm, the CP models consisting of flat bottoms and soft walls are more realistic than this complex potential. The experimental result for a wire of W(str) = 250 nm cannot be explained within the composite-well model including these two cases. Thus how to explain the experiment for this wire remains an open question.