i An update to this article is included at the end

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Physica B 362 (2005) 56–61

www.elsevier.com/locate/physb

Shallow donor impurities in different shaped double quantum

wells under the hydrostatic pressure and applied electric field
E. Kasapoglua,, H. Saria, I. Sokmenb
a
Department of Physics, Cumhuriyet University, 58140 Sivas, Turkey
b
Department of Physics, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey
Received 4 January 2005; accepted 27 January 2005

Abstract

The combined electric field and hydrostatic pressure effects on the binding energy of the donor impurity in double
triangle quantum well (DTQW), double graded (DGQW) and double square (DSQW) GaAs–(Ga,Al)As quantum wells
are calculated by using a variational technique within the effective-mass approximation. The results have been obtained
in the presence of an electric field applied along the growth direction as a function of hydrostatic pressure, the impurity
position, barrier width and the geometric shape of the double quantum wells.
r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PACS: 71.55.Eq; 71.55.
i

Keywords: Hydrogenic impurities; Double graded well; Double triangle well; Hydrostatic pressure

1. Introduction
A double-quantum well (DQW) structure in-
corporating a two-dimensional electron gas
(2DEG) in each quantum well (QW) is a unique
system from the viewpoint of both device applica-
tions and fundamental physics. One feature mak-
ing this system particularly interesting is the ability
to manipulate the electron wave functions using
Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 3462191010;
fax: +90 3462191186.
E-mail address: ekasap@cumhuriyet.edu.tr (E. Kasapoglu).
gates. That is, when the gate biases are turned in
such a way that the eigenstates of the two QWs are
aligned in energy, the electronic states initially
localized in the individual QWs are quantum
mechanically coupled, thus forming delocalized
states extending over the two QWs.
In recent years, a considerable amount of work
has been devoted to the study of artificial low-
dimensional systems, such as semiconductor het-
erostructures due to their interesting basic physical
properties and the possible technological applica-
tions as in photo-detector and optoelectronic
devices. Among the various systems under current

0921-4526/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.physb.2005.01.475
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
E. Kasapoglu et al. / Physica B 362 (2005) 56–61
investigation, the QWs have attained considerable
theoretical experimental attention. The QWs are
commonly taken to be symmetric, but the asym-
metric QWs give new tunable properties, which are
very important for device applications [1–6].
Within the last few years, there has been great
interest in the electronic properties in the asym-
metric QW structures because they are the ideal
systems for the study of terahertz electromagnetic
radiation from semiconductor heterostructures
[7–14]. This interest is mainly due to the possible
applications of quantum devices high-speed
electronics and to the generation and detection
of terahertz bandwidth signals. In order to
get sufficient tuning range, different QW struct-
ures such as stepped QW and asymmetric
coupled double QW have been tried [15–17].
Various QW structures such as graded-gap,
two-step, and coupled asymmetric QW have
been investigated in an effort to enhance the
electric-field-induced changes [8 and references
therein]. In these structures, the Stark shifts,
the changes in oscillator strengths and absorption
coefficients were predicted theoretically and
confirmed experimentally to be larger than
changes that occur in conventional square poten-
tial QWs [8].
Studies of the effect of hydrostatic pressure have
proven to be invaluable in the context of the
optical properties of semiconductors and their
heterostructures [18]. For a given structure, the
difference in energy between the type-I and type-II
transitions can be tuned with external hydrostatic
pressure in a continuous and reversible manner.
Theoretical works related to the effects of hydro-
static pressure on shallow-donor impurity states in
single and double GaAs–(Ga,Al)As QWs have
been reported [19–22]. These authors have con-
sidered the G2X crossover and, as general feature,
they have found a linear dependence on the
binding energy in the direct gap regime under the
applied pressure, while in the indirect gap regime
the energy grows with the pressure until reaching a
maximum and then it decreases. Additionally,
they have shown a redshift in the shallow
donor related optical absorption spectra asso-
ciated with the pressure dependence of the
semiconductor band gap. For the single QW
57
case under applied electric field they have found
that the electron polarizability decreases as the
impurity moves in the opposite direction to the
electric field, where the electron cloud is more
confined by the electric field and pressure effects.
The combined effect of an applied electric field and
hydrostatic pressure modifies the photolumines-
cence line shape and the donor and excitonic
related pressure coefficient in low-dimensional
semiconductor heterostructures. These effects
could be used to tune the output of optoelectronic
devices.
In this work, we calculate the binding energies
for shallow donor impurities in the symmetric
double graded, triangle and square GaAs/
Ga1
xAlxAs QWs under hydrostatic pressure and
the parallel-applied electric field to the growth
direction using a variational technique. The
pressure effects will be considered in the direct
gap regime for the barrier material. The charge
image effects have not been considered. These
potential profiles (DGQW and DTQW) for P ¼ 0
and Pa0; and amplitude of normalized subband
wave function of electron, jcð~zÞj2 ; versus the
normalized position, z~ ¼ L=a0 ; are given in
Figs. 1 and 2 for cases (a) F ¼ 0 and (b) F ¼
50 kV=cm; respectively.
Graded potential profile is obtained by changing
linearly from zero to 0.3 the aluminium concentra-
tion, x, in the Ga1
x Alx As layer. As known, one
important aspect of electronic band structure
engineering is the realization of graded hetero-
structures, in which the composition is varied
continuously in space. Electronic and optoelec-
tronic devices which exploit these effects include,
to date; graded-base heterostructure bipolar tran-
sistors which promote the egress of carriers
through the base; graded separate confinement
heterostructure laser active regions which not only
confine light to the QWs, but may also promote
transport within the active region and increase
device bandwidth.
2. Theory
In this study, we focus our attention a double
graded QW (DGQW), double triangle QW
 ARTICLE IN PRESS

58 E. Kasapoglu et al. / Physica B 362 (2005) 56–61

400 300
F=0 (a) F=0 P≠0
P≠0 250
300 Lb
P=0 200
150 P=0
200 L
V/2
100
V
100 50
0
0
-b -a 0 a b -50
(a)
-100 -100
-2 -1 0 1 2 -2 -1 0 1 2
400 400
(b) F≠0
F≠0
300 300
P=0
200 200 P≠0
P=0
100 100
P≠0
0 0

(b)
-100 -100
-2 -1 0 1 2 -2 -1 0 1 2

Fig. 1. The potential profile of DGQW for P ¼ 0 and Pa0 and Fig. 2. The potential profile of DTQW for P ¼ 0 and Pa0 and
amplitude of normalized subband wave function of electron, amplitude of normalized subband wave function of electron,
jcð~zÞj2 ; versus the normalized position, z~ ¼ L=a0 ; for cases (a) jcð~zÞj2 ; versus the normalized position, z~ ¼ L=a0 ; for cases (a)
F ¼ 0 and (b) F a0: F ¼ 0 and (b) F a0:

(DTQW) and double square QW (DSQW) DTQW and DSQW are, respectively,
structures, consisting of two QW separated by a 8
> V ðPÞ; zo
b;
thin potential barrier, subject to an electric field >
>
>
> V ðPÞ
applied parallel to the growth direction (chosen as >
>
2LðPÞ z;
bozo
a;
>
>
the z-direction). In the effective mass approxima- <
tion, the Hamiltonian for a shallow-donor im- V ðz; PÞDGQW ¼ V ðPÞ;
aozoa;
>
>
purity under the electric field is >
> V ðPÞ
>
> z; aozob;
>
> 2LðPÞ
>
:
_2 2
~2 þ V ðz; PÞ
e þ eFz, V ðPÞ; z4b;
H¼
r (1)
2m ðPÞ ðPÞ~r (2a)

where m is the electron effective mass as a 8

> V ðPÞ; zo
b;
function of P, ðPÞ is the static dielectric constant >
> V ðPÞ
>
>
as a function of pressure, ~ r is the distance between >
>
z;
bozo
a;
>
>
the carrier and the donor impurity site < LðPÞ
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi V ðz; PÞDTQW ¼ V ðPÞ;
aozoa;
(r ¼ r2 þ ðz
zi Þ2 ) and rð¼ x2 þ y2 Þ is the >
>
> V ðPÞ
>
> z; aozob
distance between the electron and impurity in the >
> LðPÞ
>
>
ðx
yÞ plane, F is the electric field strength, V ðz; PÞ :
V ðPÞ; z4b;
are the finite confinement potentials in the z-
direction. The functional forms of the DGQW, (2b)
 ARTICLE IN PRESS

E. Kasapoglu et al. / Physica B 362 (2005) 56–61 59

8
> V ðPÞ; zo
b; gap (in eV) for a GaAs QW at the G-point with the
>
>
>
> hydrostatic pressure in units of kbar, which in turn
< 0;
bozo
a;
>
is expressed [24–27] as
V ðz; PÞDSQW ¼ V ðPÞ;
aozoa; (2c)
>
> E Gg ðPÞ ¼ 1:425 þ 1:26
10
2 P
3:77
10
5 P2 .
>
> 0; aozob;
>
>
: V ðPÞ; z4b; (9)

where L is the well’s width (L ¼ L1 ¼ L2 ), Lb is the In the presence of the static dielectric constant
can be expressed as [28]
barrier width, jbj ¼ LðPÞ þ Lb2ðPÞ ; a ¼ Lb ðPÞ=2 and
V ðz; PÞ ðPÞ ¼ ð0ÞedP , (10)
V ðz; PÞ ¼ Qc DE Gg ðx; PÞ (3) where d ¼
1:73
10
3 kbar
1 and ð0Þ ¼ 13:18
is the value of the dielectric constant of the QW at
is the barrier height and Qc ð¼ 0:6Þ is the
atmospheric hydrostatic pressure (static dielectric
conduction band offset parameter[23]. DE Gg ðx; PÞ constant is assumed to be same GaAs and
is the band gap difference between QW and the GaAlAs, charge image effects have not been
barrier matrix at the G-point as a function of P; considered).
which for an aluminum molar fraction xð¼ 0:3Þ is The following trial wave function of the ground
given by impurity state is given by
DE Gg ðx; PÞ ¼ DE Gg ðxÞ þ PDðxÞ, (4) CðrÞ ¼ cðzÞjðr; lÞ, (11)
where the wave function, cðzÞ; is exactly obtained
DE Gg ðxÞ ¼ ð1:155x þ 0:37x2 ÞeV (5) from the Schrödinger equation in the z-direction,
the wave function in the ðx
yÞ plane, jðr; lÞ; is
is the variation of the energy gap difference and chosen to be the wave function of the ground state
DðxÞ is the pressure coefficient of the band gap, of a two-dimensional hydrogen-like atom [29,30]:
given by

1 2 1=2
r=l
DðxÞ ¼ ½
ð1:3
10
3 ÞxeV=kbar (6) jðr; lÞ ¼ e (12)
l p
In Eqs. (2) in which l is a variational parameter.
LðPÞ ¼ Lð0Þ½1
ðS 11 þ 2S12 ÞP, (7a) The ground state binding energy of impurity is
obtained as follows:
Lb ðPÞ ¼ Lb ð0Þ½1
ðS11 þ 2S 12 ÞP, (7b) E b ¼ E z
minhCjHjCi, (13)
l

where S 11 ¼ 1:16
10
3 kbar
1 and S12 ¼
3:7
where E z is the ground-state energy of electron
10
4 kbar
1 are the elastic constants of the GaAs obtained from Schrödinger equation in the z-
[13–15], Lð0Þ is the original width of the confine- direction without the impurity.
ment potentials for the electron in the z-direction,
Lb ð0Þ is the original barrier width. The pressure
dependence of the effective mass of the electron in 3. Results and discussion
GaAs is determined from expression [24–27]
m0 The values of the physical parameters used in
me ðPÞ ¼ " #, (8) our calculations are m ¼ 0:0665m0 (where m0 is
2 1
1 þ E Gp G þ the free electron mass), V 0 ¼ 228 meV and the
E g ðPÞ E Gg ðPÞ þ D0 distances are given in units of the effective Bohr
radius a0 ¼ 0 _2 =m e2 :
where m0 is the free electron mass, E Gp ¼ 7:51 eV; The variations of the ground state impurity
D0 ¼ 0:341 eVand E Gg is the variation of the energy binding energy of DSQW, DGQW and DTQW
 ARTICLE IN PRESS

60 E. Kasapoglu et al. / Physica B 362 (2005) 56–61

16 10 3
well’s width and dielectric constant decrease, the
1 F=0
2 9
2
P = 30 kbar
effective mass of electron increases, leading to
1
3
3
2
more confinement in the well’s of the impurity

Eb(meV)
8 1
electron and so the impurity binding energy
12 7 increases for all impurity positions.
1 6 P = 10 kbar
The effects of the coupling between the wells on
P = 10 kbar donor impurity binding energy, the variation of
2
Eb(meV)

5
3 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 the ground state impurity binding energy of
8 z~i
DSQW, DGQW and DTQW structures as a
function of the normalized impurity position for
F = 50 kV/cm barrier width, Lb ¼ 80 A; ( for two different pres-
L (0) = 50 Å
4 sure values is given in Fig. 4. for F ¼ 50 kV=cm
Lb(0) = 50Å
P = 30 kbar and F ¼ 0 (the inset of Fig. 4). When we compare
1 DSQW
the obtained results for Lb ¼ 80 A ( with previous
2 DGQW
3 DTQW ( as the coupling between the
results ðLb ¼ 80 AÞ;
0 well decreases we see that the impurity binding
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 energy decreases. As known, as the barrier width
~
zi increases the effective length, Leff ¼ L1 þ Lb þ L2 ;
Fig. 3. The variations of the ground state impurity binding
ðL ¼ L1 ¼ L2 Þ increases and the Coulombic inter-
energy of DSQW, DGQW and DTQW structures as a function action between the electron and a donor impurity
of the impurity position for barrier width, Lb ¼ 50 A; ( well decreases, for F ¼ 0 the probability of finding of
width L ¼ 50 A( and F ¼ 50 kV=cm: The inset shows the
the electrons in both of the wells is the same and
binding energy of all confinement potentials for F ¼ 0: so, impurity binding energy is minimum for donor

structures as a function of the normalized impurity 16 9

position (~zi ¼ z=a0 ) for barrier width, Lb ¼ 50 A;( 1 F=0

2
(
well’s width, L ¼ 50 A for two different pressure 3 8 3
P = 30 kbar

P = 30 kbar 1 2
values is given in Fig. 3 for F ¼ 50 kV=cm and for
Eb(meV)

2
3
12 3 7 1
F ¼ 0 (the inset of the Fig. 3). For F ¼ 0; we 2
observe that the binding energy is degenerate for 1
P = 10 kbar
6
symmetrical positions with respect to the center
Eb(meV)

barrier of different shaped DQW’s and the binding 5

8
energy increases with the pressure. The maximum -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0
~
0.5 1.0 1.5
zi
binding energy is observed in DTQW for the
impurity located in the barrier center (bc) and than F = 50 kV/cm
L (0) = 50 Å
for DGQW and DSQW, respectively due to the
4 Lb(0) = 50 Å
geometric confinement. When the electric field is P = 10 kbar
1 DSQW
applied, degeneracy is broken. The Coulombic 2 DGQW
interaction between the electron and a donor 3 DTQW
impurity located in the bc decreases since the 0
electrons shift to the left side of the wells, and the -2 -1 0 1 2
~
binding energy of a donor impurity located in the zi
center of left well increases. As seen in this figure,
Fig. 4. The variations of the ground state impurity binding
DSQW structure is very sensitive to the electric
energy of DSQW, DGQW and DTQW structures as a function
field with respect to the other structures, and the ( L ¼ 50 A
of the impurity position for barrier width, Lb ¼ 80 A; (
impurity binding energy for DSQW is greater than and F ¼ 50 kV=cm: The inset shows the binding energy of all
the others structures. As the pressure increases the confinement potentials for F ¼ 0:
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
E. Kasapoglu et al. / Physica B 362 (2005) 56–61
impurity located in the bc. As the electric field
increases, the Coulombic interaction between the
electron and a donor impurity located in the bc or
right well center decreases and so, impurity
binding energy decreases while it increases for
impurity located left well center, since the electrons
shift to the left side of the structure.
In summary, we have studied the binding energy
of the hydrogenic impurities of different shaped
double QWs (graded, triangle or full graded and
square QWs) under the electric field. The calcula-
tions were performed within the effective-mass
approximation and by using a variational method.
The dependence of the ground state impurity
binding energy on the applied electric field,
pressure, geometric shapes of the wells and barrier
width was discussed. To the best of our knowl-
edge, this is the first study for hydrogenic donor
impurities in double graded and triangle shaped
QWs. We expect that this method will be of great
help for theoretical studies of the physical proper-
ties of graded and triangle shaped QWs. Further-
more, the simplicity of the method might be useful
for describing the correct behavior of shallow-
donor impurities in double quantum-wells with
different shapes in the external fields, and for
designing some devices in the future.
References
[1] W.Q. Chen, T.G. Anderson, Appl. Phys. Lett. 60 (1992)
1591.
[2] G. Senders, K.K. Bajaj, J. Appl. Phys. 68 (1990) 5348.
[3] M. Morita, K. Goto, T. Suziki, Jpn. Appl. Phys. 29 (1990)
L1663.
[4] E.J. Austin, M. Jaros, J. Phys. C 19 (1986) 533.
61
[5] P. Yuh, K.L. Wang, Phys. Rev. B 38 (1988) 8377.
[6] E. Kasapoglu, H. Sarı, Y. Ergün, S. Elagöz, İ. Sökmen,
Superlatt. Microstruct. 24 (1998) 359.
[7] J. Cen, S.M. Lee, K.K. Bajaj, J. Appl. Phys. 73 (1993) 2848.
[8] N. Susa, J. Appl. Phys. 73 (1993) 932.
[9] M.C. Nuss, P.C.M. Planken, H.G. Roskos, M.S. Luo,
S.L. Chuang, Appl. Phys. B 58 (1994) 249.
[10] A. Hernandez-Cabrera, P. Aceituno, H. Cruz, Phys. Rev.
B 50 (1994) 8878.
[11] O.E. Raichev, Phys. Rev. B 51 (1995) 17713.
[12] E. Binder, T. Kuhn, G. Mahler, Phys. Rev. B 50 (1994) 13319.
[13] A.M. Bouchard, M. Laban, Phys. Rev. B 47 (1993) 6815.
[14] A. Hernandez-Cabrera, A. Ramos, J. Appl. Phys. 80
(1996) 1547.
[15] S.R. Parihar, S.A. Lyon, M. Santos, M. Shayegan, Appl.
Phys. Lett. 55 (1989) 2417.
[16] K.K. Choi, B.F. Levine, C.G. Bethea, J. Walker, R.J.
Malik, Phys. Rev. B 39 (1989) 8029.
[17] Y. Huang, C. Lien, J. Appl. Phys. 77 (1995) 3433.
[18] M. Chandrasekhar, H.R. Chandrasekhar, High Pressure
Res. 9 (1992) 57;
M. Chandrasekhar, H.R. Chandrasekhar, Philos. Mag. B
70 (1994) 369.
[19] A.M. Elabsy, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 6 (1994) 10025.
[20] S.Y. López, N. Porras-Montenegro, C.A. Duque, Phys.
Stat. Sol. (c) 0 (2003) 648.
[21] A.L. Morales, A. Montes, S.Y. López, N. Raigoza, C.A.
Duque, Phys. Stat. Sol. (c) 0 (2003) 652.
[22] N. Raigoza, A.L. Morales, A. Montes, N. Porras-
Montenegro, C.A. Duque, Phys. Rev. B 69 (2004) 045323.
[23] R.F. Kopf, M.H. Herman, M.L. Schnoes, A.P. Perley,
G. Livescu, M. Ohring, J. Appl. Phys. 71 (1992) 5004.
[24] H.J. Ehrenreich, J. Appl. Phys. 32 (1961) 2155.
[25] D.E. Aspens, Phys. Rev. B 14 (1976) 5331.
[26] S. Adachi, J. Appl. Phys. 58 (1985) R1.
[27] B. Welber, M. Cardona, C.K. Kim, S. Rodriguez, Phys.
Rev. B 12 (1975) 5729;
A. Jayaraman, Rev. Mod. Phys. 55 (1983) 65.
[28] G.A. Samara, Physica 139–140B (1986) 3.
[29] G. Bastard, Phys. Rev. B 24 (1981) 4714.
[30] A. Latge, N. Porras-Montenegro, M. De Dios-Leyva,
L.E. Oliveira, Phys. Rev. B 53 (1996) 10160.
 Update
Physica B: Physics of Condensed Matter
Volume 369, Issue 1–4, 1 December 2005, Page 304

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physb.2005.08.012
 ARTICLE IN PRESS

Physica B 369 (2005) 304

www.elsevier.com/locate/physb

Erratum

Erratum to ‘‘Shallow donor impurities in different shaped

double quantum wells under the hydrostatic pressure and
applied electric field’’
[Physica B 362 (2005) 56–61]
E. Kasapoglua,, H. Saria, I. Sokmenb
a
Department of Physics, Cumhuriyet University, 58140 Sivas, Turkey
b
Department of Physics, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey

8
Eqs. (2a) and (2b) are wrong in the original > V ðPÞ; zo
b;
>
>
article. Below you will find the correct version of >
> V ðPÞ

these equations. <
LðPÞ ðz þ aÞ;

>
bozo
a;
DTQW
8 V ðz; PÞ ¼ V ðPÞ;
aozoa;
V ðPÞ; zo
b; >
>
>
> > VLðPÞ
>
ðPÞ
ðz
aÞ; aozob;
>
> V ðPÞ >
>
> : V ðPÞ;
<
2LðPÞ ðz þ aÞ;
bozo
a;
> z4b:
DGQW
V ðz; PÞ ¼ V ðPÞ;
aozoa;
(2b)
>
> V ðPÞ
>
> ðz
aÞ; aozob;
>
> 2LðPÞ;
: V ðPÞ; z4b;
(2a)

DOI of original article: 10.1016/j.physb.2005.01.475.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 346 210 1010 1937; fax: +90 346 219 1186.
E-mail address: ekasap@cumhuriyet.edu.tr (E. Kasapoglu).

0921-4526/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.physb.2005.08.012