Simultaneous effects of dielectric mismatch and electric field on the electronic properties in Si nanodots

Abstract

By using the finite element method within the effective mass approximation, the effects of both dielectric confinement and electric field on the shallow-donor binding energy and polarizability in spherical Si quantum dots are investigated. It is found that: (i) the ground state binding energy is significantly increased by the dielectric mismatch at the dot interface, (ii) in the freestanding nanodot the competition between the electric field, polarization charges induced at interfaces and impurity position determines the symmetry of the electron probability distribution; (iii) the donor polarizability decreases with electric field strength and this effect is more pronounced for large dielectric mismatches. Therefore, the electronic properties of the nanocrystals could be tuned by proper tailoring of the surrounding medium dielectric constant as well as by varying the electric field. The normalized binding energy of an on-center hydrogenic donor is also been estimated and the results are in good agreement with the previous reported values.