Theoretical Study of the Conduction Band and Energy Gap of GaInNAs/InP Quantum Well Structure

Abstract

Changes of temperature and composition play a major role in enhancement of the electronic properties of low-dimensional semiconductor devices. Therefore, the interest of researchers in this field is increased. In this article, we study the effect of both the temperature and the nitrogen ratio on the electronic structure of Ga x In 1  x N y As 1  y /InP quantum well. The band anticrossing model, Varshni model, and Bose–Einstein model are adopted to determine the nitrogen effect on conduction band ( E  and E  ). The band gap of Ga x In 1  x As as ternary alloy, and band offsets (  E c ,  E v ) for the Ga x In 1  x N y As 1  y /InP quantum wells are estimated as functions of nitrogen content and temperature. The splitting of conduction band into two non-parabolic subbands due to adding the nitrogen to GaInAs alloy contributes into increase of the band offset of Ga x In 1  x N y As 1  y /InP quantum well, and thus, into increase of the number of energy states inside the quantum well. The results may be useful for applications in electronic and optical devices.