Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-19-2008

Abstract

Shallow impurity states in a freestanding semiconductor nanowire and in a semiconductor nanowire surrounded by a metallic gate are studied within the effective mass approximation. We calculate the total energy of the electron and the binding energy by using (1) a variational approach, which provides an upper bound to the electron energy, and (2) the finite element method which is "numerically" exact. The dependence of the binding energy and the extent of the shallow impurity wave function on the wire radius R and the ionized impurity position in the nanowire is examined. The validity of the often used variational calculation is critically examined by calculating the difference of the binding energies obtained from the two different methods as a function of the wire radius R and the ionized impurity position. © 2008 The American Physical Society.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

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