Electronic States and Optical Transitions in Semiconductor Heterostructures

Fedor T. Vasko

This book provides the theoretical basis and the relevant experimental knowledge underlying our present understanding of the electrical and optical properties of semiconductor heterostructures. Although such structures have been known since the 1940s, it was only in the 1980s that they moved to the forefront of research, largely due to technological developments that made it possible to grow several ultrathin layers of different materials _ down to a few atoms in thickness _ on top of a silicon or other substrates. The resulting structures have remarkable properties not shared by bulk materials. One can, for example, confine the motions of electrons to a single layer, making it possible to investigate effectively two-dimensional systems. One can also build materials with large-scale periodicities by alternating layers of different compositions, thereby modulating the optical and...