Quantum Confinement

Quantum Confinement
• Changes in atomic structure – due to the
influence of small length scale in energy band
structure
• Quantum confinement range for a
semiconductor (1-25nm)
• Changes in particle size by adjusting the
energy
 Quantum Confinement
• Quantum confinement is observed when the size of
the particle is too small to be comparable to the
wavelength of electron.
• Confinement: to confine the motion of randomly
moving electron, to restrict its motion in specific
energy levels.
• Size of particle decreases till we reach a nano scale.
• The decrease in confining dimensions makes the
energy level discrete and this increases the band gap
and band gap energy also increases.
 Quantum Confinement
• Band gap and wave length are inversely
proportional.
• Wave length decreases with decrease in size.
 Quantum Confinement
• The reduction in the number of atoms in a material results in the confinement of
normally delocalized energy states.

• Electron-hole pairs become spatially confined when the diameter of a particle

approaches the de Broglie wavelength of electrons in the conduction band.

• As a result the energy difference between energy bands is increased with decreasing
particle size.

Energy

Eg
Eg
 Quantum Confinement
• Based on direction of confinement, three
categories:
• Quantum well(2D)
• Quantum wire(1D)
• Quantum Dot(0D)
 Quantum Confinement
• 3-D
– All carriers act as free carriers in
all three directions
• 2-D or Quantum Wells
– The carriers act as free carriers in
a plane
– First observed in semiconductor
systems
• 1-D or Quantum Wires
– The carriers are free to move
down the direction of the wire
• 0-D or Quantum Dots
– Systems in which carriers are
confined in all directions (no free
carriers)
• If a bulk metal is made thinner and thinner, until the electrons can
move only in two dimensions (instead of 3), then it is “2D quantum
confinement.”
• Next level is ‘quantum wire
• Ultimately ‘quantum dot’
Quantum Confinement in Nanostructures: Overview
Electrons Confined in 1 Direction:
Quantum Wells (thin films):
 Electrons can easily move in ky
2 Dimensions! kx
1 Dimensional
Electrons Confined in 2 Directions: nz
Quantization!
Quantum Wires: ny
 Electrons can easily move in kx
1 Dimension!
2 Dimensional nz
Electrons Confined in 3 Directions: Quantization!
Quantum Dots: nz
 Electrons can easily move in 3 Dimensional
nx Quantization!
0 Dimensions!
ny
Each further confinement direction changes a continuous k component
to a discrete component characterized by a quantum number n.
Structure Quantum Number of free
confinement dimension

Bulk 0 3
Quantum 1 2
well/superlattices

Quantum wire 2 1
Quantum 3 0
dot/Nanocrystals
 Density of states
• Number of states available in a system
• Used for determining the carrier
concentrations and energy distribution of
carriers in a semiconductor
• Free motion of carrier is limited to 0D, 1D, 2D.
 Density of states

dN dN dk
DoS  
dE dk dE
k space vol
N (k ) 
vol per state
4 3 k 3

(2 ) 3 V

Structure Degree of dN
Confinement dE
Bulk Material 0D E
Quantum Well 1D 1
Quantum Wire 2D 1/ E
Quantum Dot 3D d(E)
 Density of states
• Density of states- quantum confinement
 Applications-Q wells
• Quantum wells are in wide use in
– diode lasers, including red lasers for
DVDs and laser pointers,
– infra-red lasers in fiber optic
transmitters, or in blue lasers.
– HEMTs (High Electron Mobility
Transistors), which are used in low-
noise electronics.
– Quantum well infrared photo detectors
are used for infrared imaging.
 Applications-Q wires
• Si nano wire MOSFETs
• CNT interconnects, FETs
• Sensors
• Drug delivery
• Bio/Chem FET
 Applications-Q dots
• Single electron transistor
• Q-Dot lasers
• High-quality quantum dots are well suited for
optical encoding and multiplexing applications
due to their broad excitation profiles and
narrow/ symmetric emission spectra. The new
generations of quantum dots have far-reaching
potential for the study of intracellular
processes at the single-molecule level, high-
resolution cellular imaging, long-term in vivo
observation of cell trafficking, tumor targeting,
and diagnostics