EEE 414, Optoelectronics

KHAIRUL ALAM
Professor, EEE Department
East West University
 Crystal Structure
Most of the semiconductors of interest have zinc blende
crystal structure, the unit cell of which is shown below

Crystal structure is
periodic and this is
the unit cell of ZB
crystal in real space

Zinc blende crystal structure Effective #

of atom = 8 Coordination number = 4
 Band Structure
The Fourier transform of real space is called reciprocal
space or k-space. Reciprocal space is also periodic, and
the unit cell in k-space is called Brillouin Zone (BZ)

8 equivalent (111)
surface & 6
equivalent (100)
surface

a = lattice constant
 Typical Band Structure
The following is an example band structure of
one conduction band and three valence bands

Valence band
maximum is always
at k = 0, but
conduction band
minimum happens
at different k
location
Band Structure (Si & GaAs)
Band Structure
 Band Structure Modification
Three ways to modify band structure
1. Crystal Alloy
2. Strain
3. Hetero-structure
Crystal Alloy
• The component semiconductors of the alloy
should have the same crystal structure so that the
final alloy will also have the same crystal structure
• For the same lattice structure materials, the lattice
constant of the alloy follows Vegard’s law.
For AxB1-x alloy aalloy = xa A + (1 − x )aB
 Band Structure Modification
Crystal Alloy
• The band structure of alloy is, in principle, very
difficult to calculate because the alloys are not
perfect crystal although they have perfect lattices.
This is because the atoms are randomly placed
instead of periodic fashion.
• Band structure is typically computed using virtual
crystal approximation.
• Alloy AxB1-x : Vegard’s law
E g ( x ) = xEgA + (1 − x )E gB
• Alloy AxB1-x : Bowing correction
E g ( x ) = xEgA + (1 − x )E gB + x(1 − x )C
 Band Structure Modification
Example # 2.4 from J Singh

GaAs has band gaps of 1.43 eV and 1.91 eV at Γ-point

and X-point respectively. The corresponding values for
AlAs are 2.75 eV and 2.15 eV. Calculate
a) Band gap of Al0.3Ga0.7As at both points and
comment on the result (direct / indirect)
b) Band gap of Al0.6Ga0.4As at both points and
comment on the result (direct / indirect)
c) Mole fraction (x) at which the transition from direct
to indirect occurs.
 Band Structure Modification
Hetero-structure
 Band Structure Modification
Hetero-structure

Here χ is the electron affinity. This rule of computing

band offset is also called affinity rule. This is not very
accurate but serves the purpose.
 Band Structure Modification
Hetero-structure

Electron-photon interaction happens in GaAs active

region. The quantum well formed by hetero-junction
band alignment provides additional control on energy.