Chapter 2

Electron Energy Bands

This is a brief survey of important terms and theories related to the energy
bands in semiconductors. First, the fundamental concepts of electron wave

energy dispersion E(k),

and effective masses are introduced.
vectors k,

method,
Section 2.2 is mathematically more involved as it outlines the k
p
which is most popular in optoelectronics for calculating the band structure.
Semiconductor alloys, interfaces of different semiconductor materials, and
quantum wells are covered at the end of this chapter.

2.1 Fundamentals
2.1.1 Electron Waves
In the classical picture, electrons are particles that follow Newtons laws of
mechanics. They are characterized by their mass m0 , their position r
= (x, y, z),
and their velocity v
. However, this intuitive picture is not sufficient for describing
the behavior of electrons within solid crystals, where it is more appropriate to
consider electrons as waves. The waveparticle duality is one of the fundamental
features of quantum mechanics. Using complex numbers, the wave function for a
free electron can be written as

r
) exp(i k


r ) = cos(k


r ) + i sin(k


r )
(k,

(2.1)

with the wave vector k
= (kx , ky , kz ). The wave vector is parallel to the electron
momentum p

p

m0 v

= ,
k
=
h
h

(2.2)

and it relates to the electron energy E as

E=

p2
h 2 k 2
m0 2
v =
=
,
2
2m0
2m0

(2.3)

are des
and E(k)

with k 2 = kx2 + ky2 + kz2 . Hence, in all three directions, E(p)
cribed by a parabola with the free electron mass m0 as parameter.
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