材料期刊网

Effects of interface defects on electronic states in quantum wells (QWs) are investigated theoretically by introducing a coordinate transformation that transforms QWs with defective interfaces to those with planar interfaces plus an effective potential associated with interface defects. The interface defects are idealized as a cylindrical hollow protruding into the barrier materials on one of the interfaces. Electronic ground state energies are calculated variationally as functions of the defect lateral sizes. For GaAs-Ga1-xAlxAs QWs with the well width d less than 150 angstrom, the changes in electronic energies due to interface defects will produce sizable effects on optical experiments, such as broadenings of excitation spectra of QWs. But our calculation predicts smaller spectrum broadenings than those predicated by the previous theory for the same interface disorder.