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Band Gap Engineering - Lecture 7
Band Gap Engineering - Lecture 7
Bloch theorem: Wave function of electron = plane wave part + a periodic central cell part Solution of the proper Schrdinger Schr equation yields: Energy of the electron= f(k) & cell part f(k) * Cell part character determines selection rules for photonphotonelectron interaction in optoelectronic devices * Valence bands and conduction bands in semiconductors composed of s and p orbitals * Therefore cell part of the wave function made up of s and p states
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Band structure of the conduction bands Direct: E(k) = Ec + h2k2/2m* Indirect: E(k) = Ec + h2kl2/2ml*+ h2kt2/2mt* Band structure of the valence bands E(k) = (- h2/2m0) {Ak2 [Bk4 + C(kx2 ky2 + ky2 kz2 + kz2 kx2 )]1/2} A, B, C = dimensionless parameters Upper sign => Heavy hole states Lower sign => Light hole states p-type states
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EC = e(A - B) EV = Eg - EC
(chi) = electron affinity There are several other models and experimental methods.
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Type I
Type II
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Strain
Strain is allowed only upto a particular thickness (critical thickness) Critical thickness as/2||
Strain, = (asubstrte- alayer)/alayer xx = yy = ; zz = -2C12/C11 C11 and C12 are the force constants (in Pa) of the material
If the critical thickness is exceeded, defects are generated Strained layer has the same lattice constant as the substrate on the plane of the substrate but different along the growth direction Compressive strain and tensile strain
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0.9
y(Arsenic)
lm = lattice matched
0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 x(Gallium) 0.8 1 GaP 7.1 % ts hh eg: 597 nm lh eg: 740 nm
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Wave functions at the top of the valence band has the symmetry of p orbitals Wavefunctions overlap strongly in the z- direction less in xy plane = free movement of e-s in the z-direction, less free in the x- and y- directions => Energy of holes in z-direction increases with k faster than in the x and y-directions The other two p-orbitals (px and py) behave in a similar manner To sum up the behaviour, we have one light band and two degenerate heavy bands
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For QW: m*h (growth direction) determines the confinement energy Confinement energy of electron (hole) = Energy between the first quantisation level of electron (hole) to the conduction (valence) band edge of the barrier layer and it depends upon the band offset (it also depends on well composition, well thickness and barrier composition) m*h (in-plane) determines the density of states E.g.: compressive InGaAs/GaAs : m*h (in-plane) = 0.155 m0 For bulk: m*h (in-plane) = 0.5 m0
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