Energy Bands,

Bandstructure and
Bandgap Engineering
 Elemental Semiconductors
• Si, Ge, Sn
• Ge: 0.67 eV, Si: 1.12 eV, Sn: 0.08 eV
For AxB1-xN Semiconductor
 Direct and Indirect band gap
semiconductors
• In a typical quantitative calculation of band structures, the wave function of a
single electron traveling through a perfectly periodic lattice is assumed to be
in the form of a plane wave moving in the x-direction (say) with propagation
constant k, also called a wave vector.
• In quantum mechanics, the electron momentum can be given by k
• The space dependent wave function for the electron is k ( x)  U (k x , x)e
jk x x

where the function modulates the wave function according to the

periodicity of the lattice.
• Allowed values of energy, while plotted as a function of k, gives the
E-k diagram.
• Since the periodicity of most lattices is different in various directions, the E-k
diagram is a complex surface, which is to be visualized in three dimensions.
Direct and indirect band transition
• Direct band gap semiconductor: the minima of the conduction band and the
maxima of the valence band occur at the same value of k an electron
making the smallest energy transition from the conduction band to the
valence band can do so without a change in k (and, the momentum).

• Indirect band gap semiconductor: the minima of the conduction band and the
maxima of the valence band occur for different values of k, thus, the smallest
energy transition for an electron requires a change in momentum.

• Electron falling from conduction band to an empty state in valence band

recombine.

• Recombination probability for direct band gap semiconductors is much

higher than that for indirect band gap semiconductors.

• Direct band gap semiconductors give up the energy released during this
transition (= Eg ) in the form of light used for optoelectronic applications
(e.g., LEDs and LASERs).

• Recombination in indirect band gap semiconductors occurs through some

defect states within the band gap, and the energy is released in the form of
heat given to the lattice.
Wavelength range of optical radiation
Transmission media (Loss of signal due to
attenuation and dispersion)
 Important wavelengths in the
Transmission medium
• Optical fibers have lowest loss at 1.55 µm.
• The lowest dispersion and optical amplification
in fibers have been demonstrated at 1.3 µm.
• Therefore, for long distance optical
communication using fibers, the materials of
choice are GaAs (bandgap 1.43µm) or InP
(bandgap 1.344 µm) based materials
• For short distance optical fiber systems,
GaAs/AlGaAs is used, since the fiber losses at
0.8µm remain within acceptable limits.
Bandstructure of GaAs and
AlAs
 Variation of direct and indirect
conduction band in AlxGa1-xAs as
a function of composition

It is found that for x=0.38, AlGaAs changes from direct to indirect bandgap
 Choice of materials: Bandgap
Engineering (For ternary AlGaAs alloy)
• The binary compound GaAs is a direct material, with a bandgap of
1.43 eV at room temperature.
• In AlAs, the direct Γ minimum is much higher than the indirect X
minimum and this materials is therefore indirect with a bandgap of
2.16 eV at room temperature.
• In ternary alloy AlxGa1-xAs, all of these conduction band minima
move up relative to the valence band as composition x varies from 0
(GaAs) to 1 (AlAs).
• However, the indirect minimum X moves up less than others and for
compositions above 38% Al, this indirect minimum becomes the
lowest lying conduction band.
• Therefore, the ternary alloy AlGaAs is a direct semiconductor for Al
compositions upto 38% and is indirect for higher Al mole fractions.
 Choice of Materials: Bandgap
Engineering (For GaAsP alloy)
• GaAsP is a direct bandgap semiconductor to about
GaAs0.55As0.45 and is indirect from this combination to GaP.
This material is often used in visible LEDs in the red portion of
the spectrum.
• Interestingly, however, indirect Ga1-xAsxP including GaP doped
with nitrogen can be used in LEDs with light output in the yellow
to green portions of the spectrum.
• This is possible because nitrogen binds an electron very tightly.
• This confinement in real space (Δx) means that the electron
momentum is spread out in momentum space Δp by the
Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
• As a result, the momentum conservation rules, which generally
prevent radiation recombination in indirect materials, are
circumvented.
 Choice of Materials: Bandgap
Engineering (In the blue region of the
spectrum)

• Large bandgap nitrides namely GaN

(Bandgap – 3.5 eV) have gained
tremendous importance as optoelectronic
materials and in particular for the design of
blue light emitters useful for satellite
communication.
Choice of Materials: Bandgap Engineering
(For long wavelength infrared range)
• The smaller bandgap materials are useful
for applications in long wavelength infrared
range.
• The III-V compounds of interest here are
the antimony (Sb) bearing compounds and
InAs and their ternary and quaternery
derivatives.
• InAsxSb1-x alloys have the lowest bandgap
of all the known III-V compunds and offer
promise to be applicable in the 8-12 µm
ranges.