摘要 |
The disclosed invention provides a serpentine-shaped semiconductor superlattice for novel electric and electro-optic devices. The invention comprises a stepped, or vicinal substrate, having a plurality of layers deposited on the steps in succession. Each layer comprises at least two alternating materials. The extent to which each layer covers the exposed surface defines that layer's coverage ratio p. By varying the coverage ratios cyclically around p=1.0, the present invention creates undulating, or serpentine, connected paths of the materials. Each cycle of connected material may form a substantially parabolic path that grows widest at the extremum (or vertex) point of the parabola, where p=1.0. Charged carriers can be confined at these wide points, in quantum wires extending through the substrate parallel to the substrate steps. The resulting quantum mechanical structures allow reliable fabrication and operation of quantum wire lasers, waveguides and other electro-optical and electronic devices.
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