Wesley Matson
Content of Presentation
Project Goals Background Physics Details of code Results from program Discuss importance of Energy Gap
Project Goals
Write a program using python to integrate the Schrdinger equation Create a 1-D array of potential wells to simulate a crystal lattice Show there is a forbidden energy gap that increases in size as the number of potential wells increase
Brillouin Zone
Defined as the primitive zone in reciprocal lattice Made up of all the wave vectors that satisfy the diffraction condition Wave vectors outside of Brillouin zone do not lead to solution of the Schrdinger Equation
Signswitch Function
def signswitch(Enow): philow=integrate(Enow,N,dx) phihigh=integrate(Enow+0.1,N,dx) if ((philow*phihigh)<0): return energyfinder(Enow,Enow+0.1) else: return signswitch(Enow+0.1)
Compares the sign of the end of the wave function at two different energies If the sign is different there is a solution between the two points If the sign is different rerun the function again with next energy difference
Energyfinder Function
Imports two energies from the signswitch function Finds the midpoint and determines the sign of the last point of the wave function Replaces it with the energy value that matches its sign Loops until a desired accuracy has been reached
def energyfinder(upper, lower): upperpsi=integrate(upper,N,dx) lowerpsi=integrate(lower,N,dx) while(fabs(upper-lower)>EPS): E=(upper+lower)/2.0 midpsi=integrate(E,N,dx) if(midpsi*lowerpsi>0.0): lowerpsi=midpsi lower=E else: upperpsi=midpsi upper=E # normalize sum=0.0
for i in range(0,N):
Set energy range and even or odd solution First call Signswitch with low energy Signswitch uses integrate function to find first energy range Energyfinder bisects to find solution Recall Signswith with energy solution plus small step Loop until max energy to find all solutions in range
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Results
Expected energy gap to increase with the number of wells app. 1/n Expected number of solutions to be constant Energy gap was constant with increase in wells Energy Level spacing deceased by 1/n
Semiconductors
Feature conduction band that is empty at absolute zero that fills up as the temperature increases Conductivity varies with temperature Conductivity depends of Eg/Kt As temperature increases electrons are thermally excited into the conduction band