Abstract
The past decades have witnessed a breathtaking progress in semiconductor
device fabrication techniques, with a relentless trend towards miniaturization.
Nowadays, semiconductor nanostructures of almost any desired design
can be grown with a precision down to a single atomic layer by using
epitaxial methods. To confine, manipulate, and control the charge
and spin carriers in semiconductor nanostructures, one can vary the
material or alloy composition of a sample along the growth direction,
which gives rise to quantum wells or superlattices with sharp interfaces.
Gradual changes of alloy composition are also possible, for example
to grow parabolic quantum wells. Free electrons or holes are supplied
by remote or modulation doping (the doping centers are physically
separated from the wells), which leads to systems with very high
mobilities. Finally, the sample is gated, and static electric fields
can be applied. The above methods provide the toolbox used for âband
engineering.â An easy-to-read introduction to band engineering
from a historic perspective is given in the Nobel Lecture by Herbert
Kroemer Kroemer 2001. Out of the vast number of textbooks and monographs
on semiconductor nanostructures, the book by Davies is particularly
recommended Davies 1998.
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