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From 1963 to Today: How Quantum Wells Changed Semiconductor Technology?
Quantum well technology has gone through decades of development and research since it was first proposed in 1963, and has become an important foundation for modern semiconductor technology. A quantum well is a potential well with only discrete energy values. This structure can restrict the movement of particles, allowing them to move in two dimensions instead of freely moving in three dimensions. The advancement of this technology not only promotes research in the scientific community, but also revolutionizes semiconductor technology, thus affecting our daily lives.
In 1963, Herbert Kroemer, Zhores Alferov and R.F. Kazarinov independently proposed the concept of quantum wells.
Historical background of quantum wells
The realization of quantum well technology began in 1970, when scientists Esaki and Tsu successfully developed semiconductor quantum wells and designed a synthetic superlattice for the first time. They propose that heterostructures formed by alternating thin layers of semiconductors of different energy bands should exhibit interesting and practical properties. With the advancement of crystal growth technology, the development of quantum well devices has also accelerated. These technological advances have enabled better control of the purity and number of defects in semiconductor equipment.
Quantum well technology continues to attract the attention of the scientific community and is renowned for its Nobel Prize contributions to Zhores Alferov and Herbert Kroemer. The semiconductor devices they created using quantum well structures paved the way for advances in the production and efficiency of many modern components, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and various transistors, technologies that are now embedded in our cell phones, computers and various other devices. in computing equipment.
Technology for manufacturing quantum wells
Quantum wells are formed by sandwiching a certain semiconductor material, such as gallium arsenide, between two layers of a material with a larger energy band, such as aluminum arsenide. Such structures can be grown using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques that can be controlled down to a single layer. Thin metal films can also support quantum well states, especially thin metal overlays, which provide novel ideas for the design and production of quantum well devices.
There are three main methods for growing quantum well material systems: lattice matching, strain balancing and strain systems.
Description and overview of quantum wells
A simple quantum well system can utilize two layers of a semiconductor with a large energy gap (such as AlGaAs) sandwiching a layer of a semiconductor with a smaller energy gap (such as GaAs). This change in the energy band forms a potential well and traps some low-energy carriers in this well. This allows electrons and holes to have narrow discrete energy states in the well, which is critical for further designing energy-based semiconductor devices.
Carriers in a quantum well can be described as being in a state like particles in a box.
Physical properties of quantum wells
Quantum wells and quantum well devices, as a branch of solid-state physics, continue to be studied and explored. Its theory is based on results in multiple fields such as quantum physics, statistical physics, and electrodynamics. Under the infinite potential well model, the walls of the potential well are assumed to be infinite, but actual quantum wells generally have energies of only a few hundred millielectronvolts. This shows that the width of the quantum well material can be precisely controlled, which is crucial for band gap engineering.
The development of quantum wells is not only a progress in science and technology, but also the key to promoting modern semiconductor applications. As this technology continues to innovate, we can’t help but ask, how will future quantum well technology shape our lifestyle and technological progress?
