Discontinuous envelope function in semiconductor heterostructures

Henri-Jean Drouhin; Federico Bottegoni; T. L. Hoai Nguyen; Jean-Eric Wegrowe; Guy Fishman

doi:10.1117/12.2026511

26 September 2013 Discontinuous envelope function in semiconductor heterostructures

Henri-Jean Drouhin, Federico Bottegoni, T. L. Hoai Nguyen, Jean-Eric Wegrowe, Guy Fishman

Proceedings Volume 8813, Spintronics VI; 88132Y (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2026511
Event: SPIE NanoScience + Engineering, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Based on a proper definition of the current operators for non-quadratic Hamiltonians, we derive the expression for the transport current which involves the derivative of the imaginary part of the free-electron current, highlighting peculiarities of the extra terms. The expression of the probability current, when Spin-Orbit Interaction (SOI) is taken into account, requires a reformulation of the boudary conditions. This is especially important for tunnel heterojunctions made of non-centrosymmetric semiconductors. Therefore, we consider a model case: tunneling of conduction electrons through a [110]-oriented GaAs barrier. The new boundary conditions are reduced to two set of equations: the first one expresses the discontinuity of the envelope function at the interface while the other one expresses the discontinuity of the derivative of the envelope function.

Citation Download Citation

Henri-Jean Drouhin, Federico Bottegoni, T. L. Hoai Nguyen, Jean-Eric Wegrowe, and Guy Fishman "Discontinuous envelope function in semiconductor heterostructures", Proc. SPIE 8813, Spintronics VI, 88132Y (26 September 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2026511

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available