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In semiconductors, the band gap of a semiconductor can be of two basic types, a direct band gap or an indirect band gap. The minimal-energy state in the conduction band and the maximal-energy state in the valence band are each characterized by a certain crystal momentum (k-vector) in the Brillouin zone. If the k-vectors are different, the ...
The optical band gap (see below) determines what portion of the solar spectrum a photovoltaic cell absorbs. [18] Strictly, a semiconductor will not absorb photons of energy less than the band gap; whereas most of the photons with energies exceeding the band gap will generate heat. Neither of them contribute to the efficiency of a solar cell.
The wavelength of the light emitted, and thus its color, depends on the band gap energy of the materials forming the p-n junction. In silicon or germanium diodes, the electrons and holes usually recombine by a non-radiative transition, which produces no optical emission, because these are indirect band gap materials.
Energy band gaps can be classified using the wavevectors of the states surrounding the band gap: Direct band gap: the lowest-energy state above the band gap has the same k as the highest-energy state beneath the band gap. Indirect band gap: the closest states above and beneath the band gap do not have the same k value.
The Brus equation or confinement energy equation can be used to describe the emission energy of quantum dot semiconductor nanocrystals in terms of the band gap energy E gap, the Planck constant h, the radius of the quantum dot r, as well as the effective mass of the excited electron m e * and of the excited hole m h *.
Ternary compositions allow adjusting the band gap within the range of the involved binary compounds; however, in case of combination of direct and indirect band gap materials there is a ratio where indirect band gap prevails, limiting the range usable for optoelectronics; e.g. AlGaAs LEDs are limited to 660 nm by this. Lattice constants of the ...
Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it special properties for applications in optoelectronics, [9] [10] [11] high-power and high-frequency devices. For example, GaN is the substrate that makes violet (405 nm) laser diodes possible, without requiring nonlinear optical frequency doubling.
In solid-state physics, an energy gap or band gap is an energy range in a solid where no electron states exist, i.e. an energy range where the density of states vanishes. Especially in condensed matter physics , an energy gap is often known more abstractly as a spectral gap , a term which need not be specific to electrons or solids.