Excitons in Low-Dimensional Semiconductors


Book Description

The author develops the effective-mass theory of excitons in low-dimensional semiconductors and describes numerical methods for calculating the optical absorption including Coulomb interaction, geometry, and external fields. The theory is applied to Fano resonances in low-dimensional semiconductors and the Zener breakdown in superlattices. Comparing theoretical results with experiments, the book is essentially self-contained; it is a hands-on approach with detailed derivations, worked examples, illustrative figures, and computer programs. The book is clearly structured and will be valuable as an advanced-level self-study or course book for graduate students, lecturers, and researchers.




Low-dimensional Semiconductors


Book Description

This text is a first attempt to pull together the whole of semiconductor science and technology since 1970 in so far as semiconductor multilayers are concerned. Material, technology, physics and device issues are described with approximately equal emphasis, and form a single coherant point of view. The subject matter is the concern of over half of today's active semiconductor scientists and technologists, the remainder working on bulk semiconductors and devices. It is now routine to design and the prepare semiconductor multilayers at a time, with independent control over the dropping and composition in each layer. In turn these multilayers can be patterned with features that as a small as a few atomic layers in lateral extent. The resulting structures open up many new ares of exciting solid state and quantum physics. They have also led to whole new generations of electronic and optoelectronic devices whose superior performance relates back to the multilayer structures. The principles established in the field have several decades to go, advancing towards the ultimate of materials engineering, the design and preparation of solids atom by atom. The book should appeal equally to physicists, electronic engineers and materials scientists.




Excitons in Low-Dimensional Semiconductors


Book Description

The author develops the effective-mass theory of excitons in low-dimensional semiconductors and describes numerical methods for calculating the optical absorption including Coulomb interaction, geometry, and external fields. The theory is applied to Fano resonances in low-dimensional semiconductors and the Zener breakdown in superlattices. Comparing theoretical results with experiments, the book is essentially self-contained; it is a hands-on approach with detailed derivations, worked examples, illustrative figures, and computer programs. The book is clearly structured and will be valuable as an advanced-level self-study or course book for graduate students, lecturers, and researchers.




The Physics of Low-dimensional Semiconductors


Book Description

The composition of modern semiconductor heterostructures can be controlled precisely on the atomic scale to create low-dimensional systems. These systems have revolutionised semiconductor physics, and their impact on technology, particularly for semiconductor lasers and ultrafast transistors, is widespread and burgeoning. This book provides an introduction to the general principles that underlie low-dimensional semiconductors. As far as possible, simple physical explanations are used, with reference to examples from actual devices. The author shows how, beginning with fundamental results from quantum mechanics and solid-state physics, a formalism can be developed that describes the properties of low-dimensional semiconductor systems. Among numerous examples, two key systems are studied in detail: the two-dimensional electron gas, employed in field-effect transistors, and the quantum well, whose optical properties find application in lasers and other opto-electronic devices. The book includes many exercises and will be invaluable to undergraduate and first-year graduate physics or electrical engineering students taking courses in low-dimensional systems or heterostructure device physics.




Confined Electrons and Photons


Book Description

The optical properties of semiconductors have played an important role since the identification of semiconductors as "small" bandgap materials in the thinies, due both to their fundamental interest as a class of solids baving specific optical propenies and to their many important applications. On the former aspect we can cite the fundamental edge absorption and its assignment to direct or indirect transitions, many-body effects as revealed by exciton formation and photoconductivity. On the latter aspect, large-scale applications sucb as LEDs and lasers, photovoltaic converters, photodetectors, electro-optics and non-linear optic devices, come to mind. The eighties saw a revitalization of the whole field due to the advent of heterostructures of lower-dimensionality, mainly two-dimensional quantum wells, which through their enhanced photon-matter interaction yielded new devices with unsurpassed performance. Although many of the basic phenomena were evidenced through the seventies, it was this impact on applications which in turn led to such a massive investment in fabrication tools, thanks to which many new structures and materials were studied, yielding funher advances in fundamental physics.




Quantum Theory of the Optical and Electronic Properties of Semiconductors


Book Description

This textbook presents the basic elements needed to understand and engage in research in semiconductor physics. It deals with elementary excitations in bulk and low-dimensional semiconductors, including quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots. The basic principles underlying optical nonlinearities are developed, including excitonic and many-body plasma effects. The fundamentals of optical bistability, semiconductor lasers, femtosecond excitation, optical Stark effect, semiconductor photon echo, magneto-optic effects, as well as bulk and quantum-confined Franz-Keldysh effects are covered. The material is presented in sufficient detail for graduate students and researchers who have a general background in quantum mechanics. Request Inspection Copy




Low-dimensional Nitride Semiconductors


Book Description

Optoelectronics and electronics of the years to come are likely to change dramatically. Most of the outdoor lighting systems will be replaced by light-emitting diodes that operate in the whole visible part of the electromagnatic spectrum. Transistors operating at high frequency and with high power are under development and likely to hit the market very rapidly. Compact solid-state lasers that operate in the near-ultraviolet range are going to be utilized for such widely used applications as read-write tasks in printer and CD drives. Ultraviolet detectors will be used at a wide scale for many application, ranging from flame detectors to medical instruments. This book concerns itself with the questions why nitride semiconductors are so promising over such a wide range of applications, what the current issues are in the research laboratories, and what the prospects of new electronic devices are in the dawn of the twenty-first century.




Fabrication, Properties and Applications of Low-Dimensional Semiconductors


Book Description

A recent major development in high technology, and one which bears considerable industrial potential, is the advent of low-dimensional semiconductor quantum structures. The research and development activity in this field is moving fast and it is thus important to afford scientists and engineers the opportunity to get updated by the best experts in the field. The present book draws together the latest developments in the fabrication technology of quantum structures, as well as a competent and extensive review of their fundamental properties and some remarkable applications. The book is based on a set of lectures that introduce different aspects of the basic knowledge available, it has a tutorial content and could be used as a textbook. Each aspect is reviewed, from elementary concepts up to the latest developments. Audience: Undergraduates and graduates in electrical engineering and physics schools. Also for active scientists and engineers, updating their knowledge and understanding of the frontiers of the technology.




Advances in Condensed-Matter and Materials Physics


Book Description

This book, Condensed Matter and Material Physics, incorporates the work of multiple authors to enhance the theoretical as well as experimental knowledge of materials. The investigation of crystalline solids is a growing need in the electronics industry. Micro and nano transistors require an in-depth understanding of semiconductors of different groups. Amorphous materials, on the other hand, as non-equilibrium materials are widely applied in sensors and other medical and industrial applications. Superconducting magnets, composite materials, lasers, and many more applications are integral parts of our daily lives. Superfluids, liquid crystals, and polymers are undergoing active research throughout the world. Hence profound information on the nature and application of various materials is in demand. This book bestows on the reader a deep knowledge of physics behind the concepts, perspectives, characteristic properties, and prospects. The book was constructed using 10 contributions from experts in diversified fields of condensed matter and material physics and its technology from over 15 research institutes across the globe.




Optical Properties of Low Dimensional Silicon Structures


Book Description

The workshop on "Optical Properties of Low Dimensional Silicon sL Structures" was held in Meylan, France on March, I yd, 1993. The workshop took place inside the facilities of France Telecom- CNET. Around 45 leading scientists working on this rapidly moving field were in attendance. Principal support was provided by the Advanced Research Workshop Program of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). French Delegation a l'Armement and CNET gave also a small financial grant, the organisational part being undertaken by the SEE and CNET. There is currently intense research activity worldwide devoted to the optical properties of low dimensional silicon structures. This follow the recent discovery of efficient visible photoluminescence (PL) from highly porous silicon. This workshop was intended to bring together all the leading European scientists and laboratories in order to reveal the state of the art and to open new research fields on this subject. A large number of invited talks took place (12) together with regular contribution (20). The speakers were asked to leave nearly 1/3 of the time to the discussion with the audience, and that promoted both formal and informal discussions between the participants.