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nanostructures
Peter Kratzer
Modern Concepts in Theoretical Physics: Part II
Lecture Notes
What is a semiconductor ?
The Fermi level (chemical potential of the electrons)
falls in a gap of the band structure.
Doping allows us to control the position of EF in the gap.
intrinsic
p-type
n-type
a different answer
Basics of Transport
metal
semiconductor
m=
Boltzmann statistics often
k k
i j
sufficient to describe temp.
dependence
2
-2
5
2
~10
10
..
10
(cmIs/Vs)
this ALL that quantum
sometimes k ~ 0.01 alat
mechanics has to tell us ?
Basics of Transport
metal
semiconductor
m=
Boltzmann statistics often
k k
i j
sufficient to describe temp.
dependence
Is this ALL that quantum
sometimes k ~ 0.01 alat1
mechanics has to tell us ?
Excitons
Bound system of electron and hole,
cf. hydrogen atom
Exciton radius re = a0 /m*
1/m* = 1/me + 1/mh
GaAs: re ~ 112 a0
For structures of lateral dimensions
< re, quantum confinement effects
can be expected.
25 %
Herbert Kroemer
Zhores I. Alferov
..for developing semiconductor heterostructures
in high-speed and optoelectronics
50 %
Jack S. Kilby
..for his part in the
integrated circuit
What is a heterostructure ?
A device build from different semiconductor materials, thus
exploiting the differences in band structure.
bipolar transistor
f: film
s: substrate
i: interface
Volmer-Weber: > 0
no wetting, three-dimensional island growth
Stranski-Krastanow : 0 for the first
layer(s), later > 0 (e.g. due to lattice
mismatch)
island growth on the wetting layer
lattice constant []
EF
EV
inversion
depletion
0 kT Ec
Ec
wI =
exp
2
2e n0 kT
2
kT
2 0 kT
wD =
e2 N D
Heterostructures: sub-bands
Quantization of electron motion in z-direction sub-bands
2F > kT
remote doping
h2
2
2
i (k ) = i +
(k x + k y )
2m *
> 105 cm2/Vs
2D
1D
0D
By self-assembly
Colloidal quantum dots
Epitaxial quantum dots
Cleaved-edge overgrowth
Widening of the
potential well
quantum wire
tri-n-octyl phosphine +
bis-(trimethyl-silyl) selenide
1 sec
tri-n-octyl phosphine oxide +
di-methyl-cadmium
Applications
2D heterostructures:
high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) highfrequency electronics (cell phone, satellite TV)
solar cells with high efficiency
Quantum dots:
light-emitting diodes, lasers
optical and IR detectors
mean free path of carriers in 2 DEG can be larger than gate length
ballistic transport
What is a laser ?
Light Amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
Requirements:
lasing medium with many objects (atoms, molecules, quantum dots, )
capable of resonant electronic transitions
population inversion
Heterostructures in Non-Equilibrium
double-heterostructure diode in forward bias
e
DOS ?
quasi-Fermi level
for electrons
h+
n-AlGaAs
i-GaAs
p-AlGaAs
quasi-Fermi level
for holes
strong inversion
in i-GaAs !
light-emitting
layer
p-AlGaAs
p-GaAs
n-GaAs
n-AlGaAs
n-GaAs
Ni-Ge-Au
lower mirror
electrical contact
Summary
molecular beam epitaxy
semiconductor heterostructures
band structure engineering
many novel devices
semiconductors are an ideal playground to see
quantum confinement effects, due to small electron
wavevectors / large exciton radii
self-assembled structures advantageous over
engineered structures (small size, high density,..)
Literature
textbooks
P. Y. Yu and M. Cardona, Fundamentals of Semiconductors,
Springer, 1996
R. Enderlin and A. Schenk, Grundlagen der Halbleiterphysik,
Akademie-Verlag, 1992
D. Bimberg, M. Grundmann, and N.N. Ledentsov, Quantum
Dot Heterostructures, Wiley, 1999
articles
Zh. I. Alferov, V. M. Andreev, and N. N. Ledentsov ,
http://link.edu.ioffe.ru/pti80en/alfer_en
Zh. Alferov, Semiconductors 32 (1998), 1