Theoretical progress of polarized interfaces in semiconductors

Abstract

The manipulation of electronic structures of conventional semiconductors remains the key issue of modern semiconductor physics and devices. Compare to limited modulation of semiconductors by conventional gate technique, we theoretically demonstrate that, polarized interfaces can generate a strong built-in electric field (about 10 MV/cm) in both polar and non-polar semiconductors, and the polarized interfaces can tune the band gaps in a wide range (approximately 0—2 eV), and significantly enhances the Rashba spin-orbit coupling strength as well. In this paper, we introduce polarized interfaces in polar semiconductor InN and non-polar semiconductor Ge, and generate topological insulator phases by polarized interfaces. The polarized interface is compatible with conventional semiconductor fabrication techniques and shows interesting physics and potential optoelectronic applications.