Electron waveguiding characteristics and ballistic current capacity of semiconductor quantum slabs

Author

Wilson, Daniel W. ; Glytsis, Elias N. ; Gaylord, Thomas K.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

Volume

29

Issue

5

fYear

1993

fDate

5/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1364

Lastpage

1382

Abstract

Semiconductor slab electron waveguides with and without spatially varying effective mass are analyzed using the single-band effective-mass equation. Starting with ballistic electron incidence on a potential energy/effective mass interface, expressions for the phase shift, the lateral shift, and the time delay upon total internal reflection are found. It is shown that heterostructure wells, homostructure voltage-induced wells, and heterostructure barriers can act as waveguides for ballistic electrons, and that the waveguiding is described by a single dispersion relation. The guided mode wave functions, dispersion curves, cutoffs, group velocity. effective mass, density of states, and ballistic guided current density are determined

Keywords

dispersion relations; high-frequency effects; quantum interference phenomena; reflectivity; semiconductor quantum wells; two-dimensional electron gas; waveguides; ballistic current capacity; ballistic electron incidence; density of states; effective mass interface; guided mode wave functions; heterostructure barriers; heterostructure wells; homostructure voltage-induced wells; lateral shift; phase shift; potential energy; semiconductor quantum slabs; single dispersion relation; single-band effective-mass equation; slab electron waveguides; spatially varying effective mass; time delay; total internal reflection; Delay effects; Dispersion; Effective mass; Electrons; Equations; Potential energy; Reflection; Semiconductor waveguides; Slabs; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.236150

Filename

236150