Quantum well

A thin semiconductor layer bounded by materials with a larger band gap, confining electrons and holes in one dimension. This confinement produces discrete energy levels perpendicular to the layer while carriers remain free to move within it.

Band offset: The energy difference between corresponding electronic bands in two adjoining materials. A band offset at each interface forms the potential barriers that confine carriers.
Semiconductor: A material whose electrical conductivity lies between that of a conductor and an insulator and can be controlled. Quantum wells are built from semiconductor layers with deliberately different electronic properties.
Quantum-well laser: A semiconductor laser whose active region contains one or more quantum wells. The wells provide engineered energy states for light generation and can lower the lasing threshold.
Herbert Kroemer: A physicist who developed foundational ideas for semiconductor heterostructures and heterostructure devices. His band-engineering work helped establish the structures used to make quantum wells.
Quantum dot: A nanoscale structure that confines carriers in all three spatial dimensions. Unlike a well, it quantizes carrier motion in every direction.
Quantum confinement: The change in a particle’s allowed energies when its motion is restricted to a small region. Confinement across the well is the broader effect behind its discrete energy levels.
Band gap: The energy range separating a solid’s valence-band states from its conduction-band states. A larger band gap in the surrounding layers helps create barriers for electrons and holes.
Quantum-well infrared photodetector: A detector that absorbs infrared light through transitions between quantized states in quantum wells. Its detection band is set by transitions between confined well states.
Zhores Alferov: A physicist whose semiconductor heterostructure research enabled efficient electronic and optoelectronic devices. His device research demonstrated the practical value of layered semiconductor confinement.
Quantum wire: A semiconductor structure that confines carriers in two dimensions while allowing motion along one dimension. A wire confines one additional direction compared with a quantum well.

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