Reanalysis of energy band structure in the type-II quantum wells

Band structure analysis holds significant importance for understanding the optoelectronic characteristics of semiconductor structures and exploring their potential applications in practice. For quantum well structures, the energy of carriers in the well splits into discrete energy levels due to the confinement of barriers in the growth direction. However, the discrete energy levels obtained at a fixed wave vector cannot accurately reflect the actual energy band structure. In this work, the band structure of the type-II quantum wells is reanalyzed. When the wave vectors of the entire Brillouin region(corresponding to the growth direction) are taken into account, the quantized energy levels of the carriers in the well are replaced by subbands with certain energy distributions. This new understanding of the energy bands of low-dimensional structures not only helps us to have a deeper cognition of the structure, but also may overturn many viewpoints in traditional band theories and serve as supplementary to the band theory of low-dimensional systems.

Physico−mathematical model of the voltage−current characteristics of light-emitting diodes with quantum wells based on the Sah−Noyce−Shockley recombination mechanism

Herein,a physical and mathematical model of the voltage−current characteristics of a p−n heterostructure with quantum wells(QWs)is prepared using the Sah−Noyce−Shockley(SNS)recombination mechanism to show the SNS recombination rate of the correction function of the distribution of QWs in the space charge region of diode configuration.A comparison of the model voltage−current characteristics(VCCs)with the experimental ones reveals their adequacy.The technological parameters of the structure of the VCC model are determined experimentally using a nondestructive capacitive approach for determining the impurity distribution profile in the active region of the diode structure with a profile depth resolution of up to 10Å.The correction function in the expression of the recombination rate shows the possibility of determining the derivative of the VCCs of structures with QWs with a nonideality factor of up to 4.

Raman spectrum study of δ-doped GaAs/AlAs multiple-quantum wells

Three samples of GaAs/A1As multiple-quantum wells with different quantum well widths and tS-doped with Be ac- ceptors at the well center were grown on （100） GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Polarized Raman spectra were recorded on the three samples at temperatures in a range of 4-50 K in a backscattering configuration. The two branches of coupled modes due to the interaction of the hole intersubband transitions and the quantum-well longitudinal optical （LO） phonon were observed clearly. The evaluation formalism of the Green function was employed and each lineshape of the Raman spectrum of the coupled modes was simulated. The dependence of the peak position of Raman shifts of the two coupled modes as well as the quantum-well LO phonon on the quantum-well size and measured temperature were given, and the coupling interaction mechanism between the hole subband transitions and the quantum-well LO phonon was researched.

Electron tunneling effects on radiative recombination in modulation n-doped ZnSe/BeTe type-II quantum wells

We have studied the cyclotron-resonance absorption and photoluminescence properties of the modulation n-doped ZnSe/BeTe/ZnSe type-Ⅱ quantum wells. It is shown that only the doped sample shows electron cyclotron-resonance absorption. Also, the undoped sample shows two distinctive peaks in the spatially indirect photoluminescence spectra, and the doped one shows only one peak. The results reveal that the high concentration electrons accumulated in ZnSe quantum well layers from n-doped layers can tunnel through BeTe barrier from one well layer to the other. The electron concentration difference between these two well layers originating from the tunneling results in a new additional electric field, and can cancel out a built-in electric field as observed in the undoped structures.

Optical Conductivity of Impurity-Doped Parabolic Quantum Wells in an Applied Electric Field

The optical conductivity of impurity-doped parabolic quantum wells in anapplied electric field is investigated with the memory-function approach, and the analyticexpression for the optical conductivity is derived. With characteristic parameters pertaining toGaAs/Ga_(1-x)Al_xAs parabolic quantum wells, the numerical results are presented. It is shown that,the smaller the well width, the larger the peak intensity of the optical conductivity, and the moreasymmetric the shape of the optical conductivity; the optical conductivity is more sensitive to theelectric field, the electric Geld enhances the optical conductivity; when the dimension of thequantum well increases, the optical conductivity increases until it reaches a maximum value, andthen decreases.

Intra-acceptor hole relaxation in Be δ-doped GaAs/AlAs multiple quantum wells

This paper studies the dynamics of intra-acceptor hole relaxation in Be δ-doped GaAs/AlAs multiple quantum wells （MQW） with doping at the centre by time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy using a picosecond free electron laser for infrared experiments. Low temperature far-infrared absorption measurements clearly show three principal absorption lines due to transitions of the Be acceptor from the ground state to the first three odd-parity excited states respectively. The pump-probe experiments are performed at different temperatures and different pump pulse wavelengths. The hole relaxation time from 2p excited state to ls ground state in MQW is found to be much shorter than that in bulk GaAs, and shown to be independent of temperature but strongly dependent on wavelength. The zone-folded acoustic phonon emission and slower decay of the wavefunctions of impurity states are suggested to account for the reduction of the 2p excited state lifetime in MQW. The wavelength dependence of the 2p lifetime is attributed to the diffusion of the Be atom δ-layer in quantum wells.

Lower bound on the spread of valley splitting in Si/SiGe quantum wells induced by atomic rearrangement at the interface

The achievement of universal quantum computing critically relies on scalability.However,ensuring the necessary uniformity for scalable silicon electron spin qubits poses a significant challenge due to the considerable fluctuations in valley splitting energy(E_(VS))across quantum dot arrays,which impede the initialization of qubit systems comprising multiple spins and give rise to spin–valley entanglement resulting in the loss of spin information.These E_(VS)fluctuations have been attributed to variations in the in-plane averaged alloy concentration along the confinement direction of Si/SiGe quantum wells.In this study,employing atomistic pseudopotential calculations,we unveil a significant spectrum of E_(VS)even in the absence of such concentration fluctuations.This spectrum represents the lower limit of the wide range of E_(VS)observed in numerous Si/SiGe quantum devices.By constructing simplified interface atomic step models,we analytically demonstrate that the lower bound of the E_(VS)spread originates from the in-plane random distribution of Si and Ge atoms within SiGe barriers——an inherent characteristic that has been previously overlooked.Additionally,we propose an interface engineering approach to mitigate the in-plane randomness-induced fluctuations in E_(VS)by inserting a few monolayers of pure Ge barrier at the Si/SiGe interface.Our findings provide valuable insights into the critical role of in-plane randomness in determining E_(VS)in Si/SiGe quantum devices and offer reliable methods to enhance the feasibility of scalable Si-based spin qubits.

Excitonic transitions in Be-doped GaAs/AlAs multiple quantum well

A series of GaAs/A1As multiple-quantum wells doped with Be is grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The photolu- minescence spectra are measured at 4, 20, 40, 80, 120, and 200 K, respectively. The recombination transition emission of heavy-hole and light-hole free excitons is clearly observed and the transition energies are measured with different quantum well widths. In addition, a theoretical model of excitonic states in the quantum wells is used, in which the symmetry of the component of the exciton wave function representing the relative motion is allowed to vary between the two- and three- dimensional limits. Then, within the effective mass and envelope function approximation, the recombination transition energies of the heavy- and light-hole excitons in GaAs/A1As multiple-quantum wells are calculated each as a function of quantum well width by the shooting method and variational principle with two variational parameters. The results show that the excitons are neither 2D nor 3D like, but are in between in character and that the theoretical calculation is in good agreement with the experimental results.

Blue InGaN light-emitting diodes with dip-shaped quantum wells

InGaN based light-emitting diodes （LEDs） with dip-shaped quantum wells and conventional rectangular quantum ~lls are numerically investigated by using the APSYS simulation software. It is found that the structure with dip- aped quantum wells shows improved light output power, lower current leakage and less efficiency droop. Based on Lmerical simulation and analysis, these improvements on the electrical and the optical characteristics are attributed ainly to the alleviation of the electrostatic field in dip-shaped InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells （MQWs）.

Influence of barrier thickness on the structural and optical properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells

The structural and optical properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells （MQWs） with different barrier thick-nesses are studied by means of high resolution X-ray diffraction （HRXRD）, a cross-sectional transmission electron mi-croscope （TEM）, and temperature-dependent photoluminescence （PL） measurements. HRXRD and cross-sectional TEM measurements show that the interfaces between wells and barriers are abrupt and the entire MQW region has good periodic- ity for all three samples. As the barrier thickness is increased, the temperature of the turning point from blueshift to redshift of the S-shaped temperature-dependent PL peak energy increases monotonously, which indicates that the localization po- tentials due to In-rich clusters is deeper. From the Arrhenius plot of the normalized integrated PL intensity, it is found that there are two kinds of nonradiative recombination processes accounting for the thermal quenching of photoluminescence, and the corresponding activation energy （or the localization potential） increases with the increase of the barrier thickness. The dependence on barrier thickness is attributed to the redistribution of In-rich clusters during the growth of barrier layers, i.e., clusters with lower In contents aggregate into clusters with higher In contents.

Optical properties of InGaAsBi/GaAs strained quantum wells studied by temperature-dependent photoluminescence

The effect of bismuth on the optical properties of InGaAsBi/GaAs quantum well structures is investigated using the temperature-dependent photoluminescence from 12 K to 450 K.The incorporation of bismuth in the InGaAsBi quantum well is confirmed and found to result in a red shift of photoluminescence wavelength of 27.3 meV at 300 K.The photoluminescence intensity is significantly enhanced by about 50 times at 12 K with respect to that of the InGaAs quantum well due to the surfactant effect of bismuth.The temperature-dependent integrated photoluminescence intensities of the two samples reveal different behaviors related to various non-radiative recombination processes.The incorporation of bismuth also induces alloy non-uniformity in the quantum well,leading to an increased photoluminescence linewidth.

Visualizing light-to-electricity conversion process in InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells with a p-n junction

Absorption and carrier transport behavior plays an important role in the light-to-electricity conversion process, which is difficult to characterize. Here we develop a method to visualize such a conversion process in the InGaN/GaN multiquantum wells embedded in a p-n junction. Under non-resonant absorption conditions, a photocurrent was generated and the photoluminescence intensity decayed by more than 70% when the p-n junction out-circuit was switched from open to short. However, when the excitation photon energy decreased to the resonant absorption edge, the photocurrent dropped drastically and the photoluminescence under open and short circuit conditions showed similar intensity. These results indicate that the escaping of the photo-generated carriers from the quantum wells is closely related to the excitation photon energy.

Intersubband absorption with difference-frequency generation in GaAs asymmetric quantum wells

An asymmetric quantum well （AQW） is designed to emit terahertz （THz） waves by using difference frequency generation （DFG） with the structure of GaAs/Al0.2Ga0.8As/Al0.5Ga0.sAs. The characteristics of absorption coefficients are analysed under the parabolic and non-parabolic energy-band conditions in detail. We find that the absorption coefficients vary with the two pump optical intensities, and they reach the maxima when the pump wavelengths are given as λp1 = 9.70 μm and λp2 = 10.64 μm, respectively. Compared with non-parabolic conditions, the total absorption coefficient under parabolic conditions shows a blue shift, which is due to the increase in the energy difference between the ground and excited states. By adjusting the two pump optical intensities, the wave vector phase-matching condition inside the AQW is satisfied.

Nonlinear Optical Rectification, Second and Third Harmonic Generations in Square-Step and Graded-Step Quantum Wells under Intense Laser Field

For square-step quantum wells(SSQWs) and graded-step quantum wells(GSQWs), the nonlinear optical rectification(NOR), second harmonic generation(SHG) and third harmonic generation(THG) coefficients under an intense laser field(ILF) are analyzed. The found results indicate that ILF can ensure a vital influence on the shape and height of the confined potential profile of both SSQWs and GSQWs, and alterations of the dipole moment matrix elements and the energy levels are adhered on the profile of the confined potential. According to the results, the potential profile and height of the GSQWs are affected more significantly by ILF intensity compared to SSQWs. These results indicate that NOR, SHG and THG coefficients of SSQWs and GSQWs may be calibrated in a preferred energy range and the magnitude of the resonance peak(RP) by tuning the ILF parameter. It is feasible to classify blue or red shifts in RP locations of NOR, SHG and THG coefficients by varying the ILF parameter. Our results can be useful in investigating new ways of manipulating the opto-electronic properties of semiconductor QW devices.

Spin-orbit interaction in coupled quantum wells

We theoretically investigate the spin-orbit interaction in GaAs/AlxGal_xAs coupled quantum wells. We consider the contribution of the interface-related Rashba term as well as the linear and cubic Dresselhaus terms to the spin splitting. For the coupled quantum wells which bear an inherent structure inversion asymmetry, the same probability density distribution of electrons in the two step quantum wells results in a large spin splitting from the interface term. If the widths of the two step quantum wells are different, the electron probability density in the wider step quantum well is considerably higher than that in the narrower one, resulting in the decrease of the spin splitting from the interface term. The results also show that the spin splitting of the coupled quantum well is not significantly larger than that of a step quantum well.

Room-temperature direct-bandgap photoluminescence from strain-compensated Ge/SiGe multiple quantum wells on silicon

Strain-compensated Ge/Si0.15Ge0.85 multiple quantum wells were grown on an Si0.1 Ge0.9 virtual substrate using ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition technology on an n＋-Si（001） substrate. Photoluminescence measurements were performed at room temperature, and the quantum confinement effect of the direct-bandgap transitions of a Ge quantum well was observed, which is in good agreement with the calculated results. The luminescence mechanism was discussed by recombination rate analysis and the temperature dependence of the luminescence spectrum.

Effects of InGaN barriers with low indium content on internal quantum efficiency of blue InGaN multiple quantum wells

Blue In0.2Ga0.8N multiple quantum wells （MQWs） with InxGa1-xN （x = 0.01 - 0.04） barriers are grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy. The internal quantum efficiencies （IQEs） of these MQWs are studied in a way of temperature-dependent photoluminescenee spectra. Furthermore, a 2-channel Arrhenius model is used to analyse the nonradiative recombination centres （NRCs）. It is found that by adopting the InGaN barrier beneath the lowest well, it is possible to reduce the strain hence the NRCs in InGaN MQWs. By optimizing the thickness and the indium content of the InGaN barriers, the IQEs of InGaN/InGaN MQWs can be increased by about 2.5 times compared with conventional InGaN/GaN MQWs. On the other hand, the incorporation of indium atoms into the intermediate barriers between adjacent wells does not improve IQE obviously. In addition, the indium content of the intermediate barriers should match with that of the lowest barrier to avoid relaxation.

Direct Observation of Carrier Transportation Process in InGaAs/GaAs Multiple Quantum Wells Used for Solar Cells and Photodetectors

The resonant excitation is used to generate photo-excited carriers in quantum wells to observe the process of the carriers transportation by comparing the photoluminescence results between quantum wells with and without a p-n junction. It is observed directly in experiment that most of the photo-excited carriers in quantum wells with a p-n junction escape from quantum wells and form photoeurrent rather than relax to the ground state of the quantum wells. The photo absorption coei^cient of multiple quantum wells is also enhanced by a p-n junction. The results pave a novel way for solar cells and photodetectors making use of low-dimensional structure.

Pressure effect on the electron mobility in AlAs/GaAs quantum wells

By taking the influence of optical phonon modes into account, this paper adopts the dielectric continuum phonon model and force balance equation to investigate the electronic mobility parallel to the interfaces for AlAs/GaAs semiconductor quantum wells （QWs） under hydrostatic pressure. The scattering from confined phonon modes, interface phonon modes and half-space phonon modes are analysed and the dominant scattering mechanisms in wide and narrow QWs are presented. The temperature dependence of the electronic mobility is also studied in the temperature range of optical phonon scattering being available. It is shown that the electronic mobility reduces obviously as pressure increases from 0 to 4GPa, the confined longitudinal optical （LO） phonon modes play an important role in wide QWs, whereas the interface optical phonon modes are dominant in narrow QWs, the half-space LO phonon modes hardly influence the electronic mobility expect for very narrow QWs.

Effects of polarization on intersubband transitions of Al_xGa_(1-x)N/GaN multi-quantum wells

The effects of polarization and related structural parameters on the intersubband transitions of A1GaN/GaN multi- quantum wells （MQWs） have been investigated by solving the Schr6dinger and the Poisson equations self-consistently. The results show that the intersubband absorption coefficient increases with increasing polarization while the transition wavelength decreases, which is not identical to the case of the interband transitions. Moreover, it suggests that the well width has a greater effect on the intersubband transitions than the barrier thickness, and the intersubband transition wavelength of the structure when doped in the barrier is shorter than that when doped in the well. It is found that the influences of the structural parameters differ for different electron subbands. The mechanisms responsible for these effects have been investigated in detail.