Quantum confinement effects on energy gaps and electron and hole effective masses of quantum well AlN

Based on the pseudopotential formalism, the effect of quantum confinement upon the energy band gaps and electron and heavy hole effective masses of nanostructures AlN in the zinc-blende phase has been examined. We have considered the case of a one-dimensional confinement where the AlN nanostructures have the form of quantum wells. The study showed that a tremendous variation of the investigated properties occurred for quantum well width below 5 nm. This could provide more diverse opportunities to obtain desired electronic properties that were not possible in the bulk (unconfined) AlN materials. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.