Thermoelectric Power in Quantum Dot Superlattices Under Large Magnetic Field

Abstract

In recent years, modern fabrication techniques have generated altogether a new dimension in the arena of quantum effect devices through the experimental realization of an important artificial structure known as semiconductor superlattice (SL) by growing two similar but different semiconducting compounds in alternate layers with finite thicknesses. The materials forming the alternate layers have the same kind of band structure but different energy gaps. The concept of SL was developed for the first time by Keldysh [1] and was successfully fabricated by Esaki and Tsu [2–5]. The SLs are being extensively used in thermal sensors [6,7], quantum cascade lasers [8–10], photodetectors [11, 12], light emitting diodes [13–16], multiplication [17], frequencymultiplication [18], photocathodes [19,20], thin film transistor [21], solar cells [22,23], infrared imaging [24], thermal imaging [25,26], infrared sensing [27], and also in other microelectronic devices.