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Quantum Confinement

The document discusses quantum confinement in nanostructures. It describes how quantum confinement effects properties as dimensionality is reduced from 3D bulk materials to 2D quantum wells, 1D quantum wires, and 0D quantum dots. It provides details on exciton Bohr radius and how quantum confinement modifies the band gap in semiconductors.

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405 views4 pages

Quantum Confinement

The document discusses quantum confinement in nanostructures. It describes how quantum confinement effects properties as dimensionality is reduced from 3D bulk materials to 2D quantum wells, 1D quantum wires, and 0D quantum dots. It provides details on exciton Bohr radius and how quantum confinement modifies the band gap in semiconductors.

Uploaded by

ARPIT
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Quantum confinement

 When the length of a semiconductor is reduced to the same order as the exciton radius,
i.e., to a few nanometers, quantum confinement effect occurs and the exciton
properties are modified. Depending on the dimension of the confinement, three kinds
of confined structures are defined: quantum well (QW), quantum wire (QR) and
quantum dot (QD)

 The reduction in dimensionality produced by confining electrons (or holes ) to a thin


semiconductor layer leads to a dramatic change in their behavior.
 This principle can be developed by further reducing the dimensionality of the electron’s
environment from a two-dimensional quantum well to a one -dimensional quantum wire
and eventually to a zero-dimensional quantum dot.
 The dimensionality refers to the number of degrees of freedom in the electron momentum
; in fact, within a quantum wire , the electron is confined across two directions, rather
than just the one in a quantum well and so therefore reducing the degrees of freedom to
one.
 In a quantum dot, the electron is confined in all three dimensions, thus reducing the
degrees of freedom to zero.
 If the number of degrees of freedom are labeled as Df and the number of directions of
confinement are labeled as Dc then clearly:

Df + Dc = 3

Structure Degree of Confinement Degree of freedom (Df)


(Dc)

Bulk 0D 3D
Material

Quantum 1D 2D
Well
Quantum 2D 1D
Wire

Quantum 3D 0D
Dot
Exciton Bohr Radius and Quantum Confinement
Bohr Radius (1913):
The most probable distance between the
proton and electron in a hydrogen atom in its
ground
Excitons arestate.
coupled electron‐hole pairs via Coulomb attraction

 When the length of a semiconductor is reduced to


the same order as the exciton radius, i.e., to a few
nanometers, quantum confinement effect occurs and
the exciton properties are modified. Depending on
the dimension of the confinement, three kinds of
confined structures are defined: quantum well (QW),
quantum wire (QR) and quantum dot (QD)

splitting of energy levels in quantum


dots due to the quantum confinement
effect, semiconductor band gap
increases with decrease in size of the
nanocrystal.

Quantum confinement of electronic particles


in nanocrystals produces unique optical and
electronic properties that have the potential to
enhance the power conversion efficiency of
solar cells for photovoltaic.

Quantum confinement of different nanostructures:

• Nanostructured materials are those with at least one dimension falling in nanometer
scale, and include nanoparticles (including quantum dots, when exhibiting quantum
effects), nanorodes and nanowires, thin films, and bulk materials made of nanoscale
building blocks or consisting of nanoscale structures.

In general, nanomaterials have extremely small size which having at least one dimension
100 nm or less.
In terms of directions of confinements, nanomaterials can be nanoscale in one dimension
(eg. surface films), two dimensions (eg. strands or fibres), or three dimensions (eg. particles).

In terms of degree of freedom, Siegel classified the nanostructured materials as Zero


dimensional (quantum dot), one dimensional (quantum wire), two dimensional (quantum well),
three dimensional (bulk system) nanostructures as shown in the figure 1.
Figure 1: Quantum confinement of different nanostructures as 0-D, 1-D, 2-D and 3-D with their density of states
(DOS) effects.

Zero-dimensional nanostructures:

 Zero dimensional nanostructure is called quantum dot (QD) nanocrystal. Generally,


nanocrystal is a semiconductor crystal whose size is on the order of just a few
nanometers.

 They contain anywhere from 100 to 1,000 electrons and range from 2 to 10 nanometers,
or 10 to 50 atoms in diameter. QDs are unique because of their size and properties.

 Almost all materials system including metal, insulators and semiconductors show size
dependent electronic or optical properties in the quantum size regime.

 Among these, the modification in the energy band gap of semiconductors is the most
attractive one because of the fundamental as well as technological importance.

 Semiconductors with widely tunable energy band gap are considered to be the materials
for next generation flat panel displays, photovoltaic, optoelectronic devices, laser,
sensors, photonic band gap devices, etc.

One-dimensional nanostructures:

 One-dimensional nanostructures are called nanowires.


 Nanowires are attracting much interest from those seeking to apply nanotechnology
especially in solid-state electronics and diagnosis tool in medical sciences.

 Unlike other low-dimensional systems, nanowires have two quantum-confined directions


but one unconfined direction (degree of freedom) available for electrical conduction.

 This makes nanowires to be used in applications where electrical conduction, rather than
tunneling transport, is required.

Two-dimensional nanostructures:

 Two-dimensional nanostructure is referred as quantum well in nanoscience and


nanotechnology.

 A quantum well is a particular kind of heterostructure in which one thin "well" layer is
surrounded (sandwiched) by two "barrier" layers.

 Both electrons and holes perceive lower energy in the "well" layer, hence the name (by
analogy with a "potential well").

 This layer, in which both electrons and holes are confined, is so thin (typically about 100
Å, or about 40 atomic layers) that we cannot neglect the fact that the electron and hole are
both waves.

 In fact, the allowed states in this structure correspond to standing waves in the direction
perpendicular to the layers. Because only particular waves are standing waves, the system
is quantized, hence the name "quantum well".

 Quantum wells are thin layered semiconductor structures in which we can observe and
control many quantum mechanical effects.

 They can be made to a high degree of precision by modern epitaxial crystal growth
techniques.

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