English

Simple remedy for spurious states in discrete k(dot)p models of semiconductor structures

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2015-02-10 v3

Abstract

The spurious states found in numerical implementations of envelope function models for semiconductor heterostructures and nanostructures are artifacts of the use of the centered-difference formula. They are readily removed by employing a first-order difference scheme. The technique produces none of the loss of accuracy that is commonly feared from lower-order formulations; the fidelity to the continuum band structure is actually improved. Moreover the stability is absolute, thus no adjustments to the model parameters are required. These properties are demonstrated in an explicit calculation of a 3-band model of a semiconductor superlattice.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1412.7201,
  title  = {Simple remedy for spurious states in discrete k(dot)p models of semiconductor structures},
  author = {William R. Frensley and Raja N. Mir},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.7201},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

Significant revision; an explicit real-space computation of a superlattice structure is now included. The title was slightly modified to emphasize that we are addressing the problems introduced by discretization