We propose a simple and effective approach to construct the empirical tight-binding parameters of ternary alloys in the virtual crystal approximation. This combines a new, compact formulation of the strain parameters and a linear interpolation of the hamiltonians of binary materials strained to the alloy equilibrium lattice parameter. We show that it is possible to obtain a perfect description of the bandgap bowing of ternary alloys in the InGaAsSb family of materials. Furthermore, this approach is in a good agreement with supercell calculations using the same set of parameters. This scheme opens a way for atomistic modeling of alloy-based opto-electronic devices without extensive supercell calculations.
We report on the clear evidence of massless Dirac fermions in two-dimensional system based on III-V semiconductors. Using a gated Hall bar made on a three-layer InAs/GaSb/InAs quantum well, we restore the Landau levels fan chart by magnetotransport and unequivocally demonstrate a gapless state in our sample. Measurements of cyclotron resonance at different electron concentrations directly indicate a linear band crossing at the $Gamma$ point of Brillouin zone. Analysis of experimental data within analytical Dirac-like Hamiltonian allows us not only determing velocity $v_F=1.8cdot10^5$ m/s of massless Dirac fermions but also demonstrating significant non-linear dispersion at high energies.
Motivated by recent nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments, we present a microscopic sp3 tight-binding model calculation of the NMR shifts in bulk Bi2Se3, and Bi2Te3. We compute the contact, dipolar, orbital and core polarization contributions to the carrier-density-dependent part of the NMR shifts in Bi209, Te125 and Se77. The spin-orbit coupling and the layered crystal structure result in a contact Knight shift with strong uniaxial anisotropy. Likewise, because of spin-orbit coupling, dipolar interactions make a significant contribution to the isotropic part of the NMR shift. The contact interaction dominates the isotropic Knight shift in Bi209 NMR, even though the electronic states at the Fermi level have a rather weak s-orbital character. In contrast, the contribution from the contact hyperfine interaction to the NMR shift of Se77 and Te125 is weak compared to the dipolar and orbital shifts therein. In all cases, the orbital shift is at least comparable to the contact and dipolar shifts, while the shift due to core polarization is subdominant (except for Te nuclei located at the inversion centers). By artificially varying the strength of spin-orbit coupling, we evaluate the evolution of the NMR shift across a band inversion but find no clear signature of the topological transition.
We study experimentally the electron transport properties of gated quantum dots formed in InGaAs/InP and InAsP/InP quantum well structures grown by chemical-beam epitaxy. For the case of the InGaAs quantum well, quantum dots form directly underneath narrow gate electrodes due to potential fluctuations. We measure the Coulomb-blockade diamonds in the few-electron regime of a single quantum dot and observe photon-assisted tunneling peaks under microwave irradiation. A singlet-triplet transition at high magnetic field and Coulomb-blockade effects in the quantum Hall regime are also observed. For the InAsP quantum well, an incidental triple quantum dot forms also due to potential fluctuations within a single dot layout. Tunable quadruple points are observed via transport measurements.
We report the capability to simulate in a quantum mechanical tight-binding (TB) atomistic fashion NW devices featuring several hundred to millions of atoms and diameter up to 18 nm. Such simulations go far beyond what is typically affordable with todays supercomputers using a traditional real space (RS) TB Hamiltonian technique. We have employed an innovative TB mode space (MS) technique instead and demonstrate large speedup (up to 10,000x) while keeping good accuracy (error smaller than 1 percent) compared to the RS NEGF method. Such technique and capability open new avenues to explore and understand the physics of nanoscale and mesoscopic devices dominated by quantum effects. In particular, our method addresses in an unprecedented way the technological relevant case of band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) in III-V nanowire MOSFETs and broken gap heterojunction tunnel-FETs (TFETs). We demonstrate an accurate match of simulated BTBT currents to experimental measurements in a [111] InAs NW having a 12 nm diameter and a 300 nm long channel. We apply the predictivity of our TB MS simulations and report an in-depth atomistic study of the scaling potential of III-V GAA nanowire heterojunction n and pTFETs quantifying the benefits of this technology for low-power, low-voltage CMOS application. At VDD = 0.3 V and IOFF = 50 pA/um, the on-current (Ion) and energy-delay product (ETP) gain over a Si NW GAA MOSFET are 58x and 56x respectively.
Modified group projector technique for induced representations is a powerful tool for calculation and symmetry quantum numbers assignation of a tight binding Hamiltonian energy bands of crystals. Namely, the induced type structure of such a Hamiltonian enables efficient application of the procedure: only the interior representations of the orbit stabilizers are to be considered. Then the generalized Bloch eigen functions are obtained naturally by the expansion to the whole state space. The method is applied to the electronic pi-bands of the single wall carbon nanotubes: together with dispersion relations, their complete symmetry assignation by the full symmetry (line) groups and the corresponding symmetry-adapted eigen function are found.