EE 223

Applied Quantum Mechanics II

David Miller
Effective mass theory

Effective mass approximation

Effective mass theory
Because of Kramers degeneracy
bands commonly have minima or maxima k = 0
because the bands are often symmetric about k = 0
Bands can also have minima or maxima at other k values
The conduction band minima and the valence band
maxima
are very important in the operation of both electronic
and optoelectronic semiconductor devices
Extra electrons fall into the lowest minimum
Extra “holes” (absences of electrons) “bubble up” to the
highest maximum
Effective mass theory

The properties of
most electronic devices and
many optoelectronic devices
especially light emitting devices
which involve recombination of
electrons in the conduction band
with holes in the valence band
are dominated by what happens in these
minima and maxima
Effective mass theory

It is also the case in optoelectronics that many

other devices
such as some optical modulators
work for photon energies very near to
the band gap energy
and their properties are also determined by
the behavior of electrons and holes in these
minima and maxima
Effective mass theory

It is therefore very useful to have approximate

models
that give simplified descriptions of what
happens in these regions
Fortunately there are such models
and they are very useful in practice
One of these is the effective mass
approximation
Effective mass approximation
conduction
Near a minimum or maximum, band
energy E should vary ~ k2 in a
given direction
For simplicity we presume E
the variation is isotropic valence
the minimum or maximum of band
interest is located at k = 0
Neither of these simplifications
is necessary for this effective -p/a 0 p/a
mass approach k
Effective mass approximation
conduction
This isotropic k = 0 minimum or band
maximum is a good first
approximation for
the lowest conduction band E
and valence
the highest valence bands band

in the direct gap

semiconductors important
in optoelectronics -p/a 0 p/a
e.g., GaAs, InGaAs k
Effective mass approximation
conduction
For the lowest conduction band
bands in indirect gap
semiconductors
like silicon, germanium, AlAs E
the minima are not at k = 0 valence
and they are not isotropic band

The theory is easily extended to

cover these cases
though we will not do this -p/a 0 p/a
here k
Effective mass approximation
If the energy at the minimum or maximum itself is
some amount V
then, by assumption, the energy Ek of the state
in the band at wavevector k is
Ek  V  k 2
For reasons that will become obvious, we choose
to write this as
2k 2
Ek  V
2meff
where the “effective mass” meff is a parameter
that sets the appropriate proportionality
Effective mass approximation

A relation such as
2k 2
Ek  V
2meff
between energy and k-value is called a
dispersion relation
This particular approximation for the behavior
of the energies in a band is called
an isotropic parabolic band
 Effective mass theory

Wavepackets and effective mass theory

Behavior of a wavepacket

Consider a wave packet

a linear superposition of different Bloch states
Since we are going to consider the time evolution
we will also include the time-varying factor exp  iEk t /  
for each component in the superposition.
Hence we consider a wavefunction
  r, t    ck uk  r  exp  ik.r  exp  iEk t /  
k

where ck are the coefficients of the different Bloch

states in this superposition
Behavior of a wavepacket

We have restricted this superposition

  r, t    ck uk  r  exp  ik.r  exp  iEk t /  
k
to states within only one band
We will make the further assumption that
this superposition is only from a small range of k-
states (near k = 0)
This is what can be called
a slowly varying envelope approximation
since it means that the resulting wavepacket does
not vary rapidly in space
Behavior of a wavepacket

Because of this slowly varying envelope approximation

we can presume that, for all the k of interest to us
all of the unit cell functions uk  r 
are approximately the same
Hence we presume uk  r   u0  r 
for the range of interest to us
Hence we can factor out this unit cell part, writing
  r, t   u0  r   env  r, t 
where the envelope function can be written
 env  r, t    ck exp  ik.r  exp  iEk t /  
k
 Behavior of a wavepacket

Now, differentiating with respect to time, we construct

a Schrödinger equation for this envelope function
 env
i   ck Ek exp  ik.r  exp  iEk t /  
t k

2

2meff
 k exp  ik.r  exp  iEk t /    V  ck exp  ik.r  exp  iEk t /  
c
k
k 2

2

2meff
  k exp  ik.r  exp  iEk t /    V  env
k
  c  2

since  2 exp  ik.r    k 2 exp  ik.r 

Effective mass approximation
Taking  2 outside the sum, we have
 env 2
i   2  ck exp  ik.r  exp  iEk t /    V  env
t 2meff k

Hence, we have managed to construct a Schrödinger

equation for this envelope function
2 
  2  env (r, t )  V  r   env  r, t   i  env  r, t 
2meff t
So we can approximately treat the electron
as a particle with an effective mass meff and a
wavefunction given by the envelope function  env  r, t 
Effective mass approximation
2 
In    env (r, t )  V  r   env  r, t   i  env  r, t 
2

2meff t
All of the details of the periodic potential and the
unit cell wavefunction
have been suppressed
Their consequences are all contained in the
single parameter, the effective mass meff
This effective mass model is a very powerful
for modeling processes in semiconductors
Use of V(r)

Note we have allowed the energy of the band at k = 0

i.e., the potential V(r), to vary with position r
This is justified if the changes in that potential are
very small compared to  k / 2meff
2 2

over the scale of a unit cell and over the wavelength 2 / k

Technically, if that potential changes with position
then we no longer have a truly periodic structure
and crystalline theory is not quite “legal”
but in practice this model works well as that
potential is slowly varying
Effective mass theory

Semiconductor heterostructures
Semiconductor heterostructures

Structures involving more than one kind of material are

called heterostructures
e.g., changing x in the semiconductor AlxGa1-xAs.
Such changes are made routinely in modern
semiconductor structures
especially abrupt changes in material concentration
e.g., the interface between GaAs and Al0.3Ga0.7As in
laser diodes
quantum well structures involving very thin layers
(e.g., 10 nm)
Analyzing heterostructures with effective mass theory

Note that the effective mass is in general different in

different materials
It is then better to write the envelope function equation
as 2  1  
   env (r, t )   V  r   env  r, t   i  env  r, t 
2  meff  t
and to use boundary conditions such as
 env continuous
1
and  env continuous
meff
to handle abrupt changes in material and/or potential
Boundary conditions

The choice of the boundary conditions is to some extent

arbitrary
they cannot be derived from effective mass theory
since the abrupt boundaries violate the
assumptions of slowly varying potentials
These new choices do, however
conserve probability density if the mass changes with
position
and they do work well in modeling many
experimental situations
Semiconductor Heterostructures

We treat the “band offsets”  EC

between the different

materials as
abrupt changes in potential
EG 2
E G1
energy V as we go from one
material to the other  EV
Offsets are usually determined
empirically for given materials
conduction band offset EC narrow band wide band gap
gap material 1 material 2
valence band offset EV
 Classes of Band Line-Up in Heterostructures

conduction
band

valence
band

Type I Type II
Nearly all devices use “Type I” heterostructures
electrons and holes have “lowest” energy in the same material
remember holes “bubble up” to the top, where they have
“lowest” energy