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Quantum confinement
Trap particles and restrict their motion Quantum confinement produces new material behavior/phenomena Engineer confinement- control for specific applications Structures
Quantum dots (0-D) only confined states, and no freely moving ones Nanowires (1-D) particles travel only along the wire Quantum wells (2-D) confines particles within a thin layer
http://www.me.berkeley.edu/nti/englander1.ppt http://phys.educ.ksu.edu/vqm/index.html
(Scientific American)
Quantum Confinement
Excitons have an average physical separation between the electron and hole, referred to as the Exciton Bohr Radius this physical distance is different for each material. In bulk, the dimensions of the semiconductor crystal are much larger than the Exciton Bohr Radius, allowing the exciton to extend to its natural limit. However, if the size of a semiconductor crystal becomes small enough that it approaches the size of the material's Exciton Bohr Radius, then the electron energy levels can no longer be treated as continuous - they must be treated as discrete, meaning that there is a small and finite separation between energy levels. This situation of discrete energy levels is called quantum confinement .
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Quantum Dots
A quantum dot is a semiconductor whose excitons are confined in all three spatial dimensions. As a result, they have properties that are between those of bulk semiconductors and those of discrete molecules.
A crystal of semiconductor compound (eg. CdSe, PbS) with a diameter on the order of the compound's Exciton Bohr Radius. Quantum dots are between 2 and 10 nanometers wide (10 and 50 atoms).
An electromagnetic radiation emitter with an easily tunable bandgap.
Continued
In an unconfined (bulk) semiconductor, an electron-hole pair is typically bound within a characteristic length called the Bohr exciton radius. If the electron and hole are constrained further, then the semiconductor's properties change. This effect is a form of quantum confinement, and it is a key feature in many emerging electronic structures.The Quantum dot is such an electronic structure which is based on the principle of Quantum confinement.
Artificial Atoms
Quantum Dots are more closely related to individual atoms rather than bulk materials because of their discrete quantized energy levels instead of energy bands. Therefore they are also known as artificial atoms.
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Why Q Dots?
Traditional semiconductors have shortcomings, they lack versatility.
Their optical and electronic qualities are costly to adjust, because their bandgap cannot be easily changed. Their emission frequencies cannot be easily manipulated by engineering. Q Dots exist in a quantum world, where properties are modulated according to needs. Technological advancements have made it possible to make semiconductors with tunable bandgaps, allowing for unique optical and electronic properties and a broad range of emission frequencies.
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Because quantum dots' electron energy levels are discrete rather than continuous, the addition or subtraction of just a few atoms to the quantum dot has the effect of altering the boundaries of the bandgap.
Changing the geometry of the surface of the quantum dot also changes the bandgap energy, owing again to the small size of the dot, and the effects of quantum confinement.
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Fabrication Continued
Viral Assembly: In 2002 it was found that using genetically
engineered M13 bacteriophage virusesQ Dots can be created. It is known that viruses can recognize specific semiconductor surfaces Through the method of selection by combinatorial phage display. Therefore using this property and controlling the solution ionic strength and by applying outside magnetic field we can create nanocrystals in a controlled environment.
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Fabrication Continued..
be self-assembled by electrochemical techniques. A template is created by causing an ionic reaction at an electrolyte-metal interface which results in the spontaneous assembly of nanostructures, including quantum dots, onto the metal which is then used as a mask for mesa-etching these nanostructures on a chosen substrate.
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Quantum dots have also been implemented as qubits for quantum information processing.By applying small voltages to the leads, the flow of electrons through the quantum dot can be controlled and thereby precise measurements of the spin and other properties therein can be made. With several entangled quantum dots,or qubits, plus a way of performing operations, quantum calculations and the computers that would perform them might be possible.
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Photovoltaic
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Electronic
applications they have been proven to operate like a single-electron transistor and show the Coulomb blockade effect Security inks
Due to its Colloidal properties Q Dots can be mixed into inks which incorporate quantum dots, nanoscale semiconductor particles,which can be tuned to emit light at specific wavelengths in the visible and infrared portion of the spectra
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Security Ink with Q Dots emmiting green light. Combining multiple quantum dots and other pigments to create unique fluorescent spectral barcodes that identify any object or document upon illuminated
Quantum Wire
Introduction
1D nanostructures represent the smallest dimension structure that can efficiently transport electrical carriers 1D nanostructures can also exhibit critical device function, and thus can be exploited as both the wiring and device elements in future architectures for functional nanosystems In this regard, two material classes: semiconductor nanowires (NWs) carbon nanotubes (NTs) have shown particular promise
Background
What is Quantum Wire?
A strip of conducting material about 10nm or less in width and thickness that displays quantum mechanical effects.
- from Science and Technology Dictionary
Essential Difference?
Not copying quantum info, but transported-destroy at source then recreating at destination.
Fig. 4. A carbon nanotube between two electrodes from http://www.mb.tn.tudelft.nl
Why nanowires?
They represent the smallest dimension for efficient transport of electrons and excitons, and thus will be used as interconnects and critical devices in nanoelectronics and nanooptoelectronics. (CM Lieber, Harvard)
General attributes & desired properties Diameter 10s of nanometers Single crystal formation -- common crystallographic orientation along the nanowire axis Minimal defects within wire Minimal irregularities within nanowire arrays
Nanowire fabrication
Challenging! Template assistance Electrochemical deposition
Ensures fabrication of electrically continuous wires since only takes place on conductive surfaces Applicable to a wide range of materials
Magnetic nanowires
Important for storage device applications Cobalt, gold, copper and cobalt-copper nanowire arrays have been fabricated Electrochemical deposition is prevalent fabrication technique <20 nm diameter nanowire arrays have been fabricated
Cobalt nanowires on Si substrate
(UMass Amherst, 2000)
http://www.me.berkeley.edu/nti/englander1.ppt
Quantum wells
Quantum wells
A quantum well is a potential well that confines particles, which were originally free to move in three dimensions, to two dimensions. forcing them to occupy a planar region. The effects of quantum confinement take place when the quantum well thickness becomes comparable at the de Broglie wavelength of the carriers (generally electrons and holes), leading to energy levels called "energy subbands", i.e., the carriers can only have discrete energy values.
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Conduction Band
Discrete Energy Levels
Valence Band
Valence Bands
Quantum Well
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Figure 8.2. Schematic energy band diagram of GaAs/GaAlxAs1-x quantum well. An electron (represented by its wavefunction y) can be considered as partially confined in the quantum well of width equal to the GaAs thickness. The barrier height DE is equal to the difference in the energies of the bottom of the conduction band Ec for the two layer materials. Ev is the energy of the top of the valence band and Egap is the band gap energy.
A multi-quantum well layer structure used as a detector is called a QWIP (Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector)
Quantum Well Bandstructure
Transitions
Bound to Bound Bound to Continuum Bound to Quasi- Bound
Bound-to-Continuum
Excited bound state is situated in the contunuum Photoexcited eletrons escape without tunneling
Low bias voltage Low dark current
Bound-to-Bound
Photo-excitation to another bound state within same energy band Excited carriers escape out of well by tunneling
Fabrication
Quantum wells are formed in semiconductors by having a material, like gallium arsenide sandwiched between two layers of a material with a wider bandgap, like aluminium arsenide. These structures can be grown by molecular beam epitaxy or chemical vapor deposition with control of the layer thickness down to monolayers.
Applications
In optical devices such as laser diodes. They are also used to make HEMTs (High Electron Mobility Transistors), which are used in low-noise electronics. Quantum well infrared photo detectors are also based on quantum wells, and are used for infrared imaging.
QUESTIONS
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