Modeling the effect of elastic strain on ballistic transport and photonic properties of semiconductor quantum structures

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Doctoral thesis (article-based)
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Date
2007-08-15
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Language
en
Pages
84, [83]
Series
Helsinki University of Technology Laboratory of Computational Engineering publications. Report B, 61
Abstract
The recent progress in microelectronic processing techniques has made it possible to fabricate artificial materials, dedicated and tailored directly for nanoelectronics and nanophotonics. The materials are designed to achieve a confinement of electrons to nanometer size foils or grains, often called quantum structures because of the quantization of the electron energies. In this work I have developed computationalmodels for the electronic structure, photonic recombination and carrier dynamics of quantum confined charge carriers of artificial materials. In this thesis I have studied in particular the effect of elastic strain on the ballistic transport of electrons, in silicon electron wave guides; and on the electronic structure and photonic properties of III-V compound semiconductor heterostructures. I have simulated two types of elastic strain. The strain in the silicon wave guides is induced by the thermal oxidation of the silicon processing and the strain of the III-V compound semiconductor structures is a result of a pseudomorphic integration of lattice mismatched materials. As one of the main results of this work, we have shown that the oxidation-induced strain can lead to current channeling effects in electron wave guides and a doubling of the conductance steps of the wave guide. In the case of the III-V compound semiconductor heterostructures, it was shown that piezoelectric potential (which is due to the elastic strain) complicates considerably the electron-hole confinement potential of strain-induced quantum dots. This has several consequences on the optical properties of these systems. Our results are well in agreement with experimental observations and do explain a set of experiments, which have so far lacked any explanation. This work does, thereby, imply a much better understanding of both silicon electron wave guides and strain-induced quantum dots. This could have implications for both further detailed experiments and future technological applications of the studied devices.
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Keywords
quantum, electronics, photonics, electron waveguide, quantum dot, quantum wire, quantum well, kvant, elektronik, foton, elektronvågledare, kvantprick, kvanttråd, kvantbrunn
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Parts
  • F. Boxberg and J. Tulkki, Modeling of oxidation-induced strain and its effect on the electronic properties of Si waveguides, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices 48, pp. 2405-2409 (2001). [article1.pdf] © 2001 IEEE. By permission.
  • F. Boxberg, T. Häyrynen and J. Tulkki, Doubling of conductance steps in Si/SiO<sub>2</sub> quantum point contact, Journal of Applied Physics 100, 024904 (2006). [article2.pdf] © 2006 American Institute of Physics. By permission.
  • S. von Alfthan, F. Boxberg, K. Kaski, A. Kuronen, R. Tereshonkov, J. Tulkki and H. Sakaki, Electronic, optical, and structural properties of quantum wire superlattices on vicinal (111) GaAs substrates, Physical Review B 72, 045329 (2005). [article3.pdf] © 2005 American Physical Society. By permission.
  • F. Boxberg, R. Tereshonkov and J. Tulkki, Polarization of gain and symmetry breaking by interband coupling in quantum well lasers, Journal of Applied Physics 100, 063108 (2006). [article4.pdf] © 2006 American Institute of Physics. By permission.
  • F. Boxberg, J. Tulkki, Go Yusa and H. Sakaki, Cooling of radiative quantum-dot excitons by terahertz radiation: A spin-resolved Monte Carlo carrier dynamics model, Physical Review B 75, 115334 (2007). [article5.pdf] © 2007 American Physical Society. By permission.
  • F. Boxberg and J. Tulkki, Theory of the electronic structure and carrier dynamics of strain-induced (Ga,In)As quantum dots, Reports on Progress in Physics 70, pp. 1425-1471 (2007). [article6.pdf] © 2007 Institute of Physics Publishing. By permission.
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Permanent link to this item
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:tkk-009541