Spin-orbit splittings in Si/SiGe quantum wells


Abstract in English

We present a calculation of the wavevector-dependent subband level splitting from spin-orbit coupling in Si/SiGe quantum wells. We first use the effective-mass approach, where the splittings are parameterized by separating contributions from the Rashba and Dresselhaus terms. We then determine the parameters by fitting tight-binding numerical results obtained using the quantitative nanoelectronic modeling tool, NEMO-3D. We describe the relevant parameters as a function of applied electric field and well width in our numerical simulations. For a silicon membrane, we find the bulk Rashba parameter to be linear in field, $alpha = alpha^1E_z$ with $alpha^1 simeq 2times$ 10 $^{-5}$nm$^{-2}$. The dominant contribution to the spin-orbit splitting is from Dresselhaus-type terms, and the magnitude for a typical flat SiGe/Si/SiGe quantum well can be as high as 1$mu$eV.

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