Absorption in Semiconductors

Franz-Keldysh effect
 The effect is named after the German physicist Walter Franz and Russian physicis
Leonid Keldysh.

 This is a change in optical absorption by a semiconductor when an electric field is

applied.

 Results in absorption of photon with energies less than the bandgap of the
semiconductor.

 At the classical turning points marked A and B, the electron wavefunctions change
from oscillatory to decaying behaviour.

 With increase in electric field, the distance AB decreases .

 In the absence of a photon, the valence electron has to tunnel through a triangular
barrier of height Eg and thickness d.
FRANZ-KELDYSH EFFECTS
Franz-Keldysh effect
 With the assistance of an absorbed photon, photon of energy hw<Eg, the tunneling
barrier thickness is reduced to d’.

 Now the valence electron can easily tunnel to the conduction band.

 Net result is photon with energy hw<Eg is absorbed.

 The Franz-Keldysh effect is therefore, photon assisted tunneling.

 The Franz-Keldysh effect occurs in uniform, bulk semiconductors.

 Franz-Keldysh-effect is used in electro-absorption modulators

 The effect of Franz-Keldysh effect will be small unless E≥105V/cm

Stark effect
 The Stark effect is the shifting and splitting of spectral lines of atoms and
molecules due to the presence of an external static electric field.

 The amount of splitting and or shifting is called the Stark splitting or Stark shift.
In general one distinguishes first- and second-order Stark effects.

 The first-order effect is linear in the applied electric field and called as Linear
stark effect.(affects the higher order or outer orbits).

 The second-order effect is quadratic in the field and called as quadratic stark
effect.(affects the ground state orbits).

 The Stark effect is responsible for the pressure broadening (Stark broadening) of
spectral lines by charged particles.

 When the split/shifted lines appear in absorption, the effect is called the inverse
Stark effect.
Energy level spectra of hydrogen in an
electric field
 Quantum Wells
Quantum wells are structures in which a thin layer of a smaller bandgap
semiconductor is sandwiched between two layers of a wider bandgap semiconductor.
The heterojunction between the smaller and the wider bandgap semiconductors forms
a potential well confining the electrons and the holes in the smaller bandgap material
region. This is the case of a type I quantum well. In a type II quantum well, the
electrons and the holes are confined in different layers. Thus the motions of the
electrons and the holes are restricted in one dimension (along the thickness direction).
Quantum well
 A quantum well is a potential well with only discrete energy
values.
 One technology to create quantization is to confine 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
 Quantum-confined Stark effect
 The quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE) describes the effect of an external electric
field upon the light absorption spectrum of a quantum well (QW).

 In the absence of an external electric field, electrons and holes within the quantum
well may only occupy states within a discrete set of energy subbands.


 Consequently, only a discrete set of frequencies of light may be absorbed by the

system. When an external electric field is applied, the electron states shift to lower
energies, while the hole states shift to higher energies.

 This reduces the permitted light absorption frequencies. Additionally, the external
electric field shifts electrons and holes to opposite sides of the well, which in turn
reduces the recombination efficiency of the system.


 The quantum-confined Stark effect is used in QCSE optical modulators, which allow
optical communications signals to be switched on and off rapidly
Quantum-confined Stark effect
Quantum-confined Stark effect
 The ground-state wave functions of the electron and hole subband with
no applied electric field is shown in the previous figure.
 With the application of an electric field the electron and hole wave
functions are separated and pushed toward the opposite sides of the
well.
 The reduced overlap results in a corresponding reduction in absorption
and in Luminescence.
 The probability of carriers tunneling out of the wells also increases,
decreasing the carrier lifetime and broadening of the absorption spectra.
Quantum-confined Stark effect
 The transition energy is given by Eph=Ee+Eh+Egw-Eex

 Where Ee =electron subband energy Eh=hole subband energy

 Egw=Energy gap in the quantum well Eex=Binding energy of the exciton

 With the application of moderate electric fields (104-105 V/cm), there is

little change in Eex and Egw due to stark effect in the well material.

 Results in the reduction of Ee and Eh , the subband energies.

 This results in a shift of the absorption spectrum to lower energies,

including the heavy and light-hole resonances.

 The shift is much larger than the stark shift in bulk materials and is ≈20
meV for E=105 V/cm.This phenomenon is known as Quantum confined
stark effect.