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In graphs of the electronic band structure of solids, the band gap refers to the energy difference (often expressed in electronvolts) between the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band in insulators and semiconductors. It is the energy required to promote an electron from the valence band to the conduction band.
The closest band above the band gap is called the conduction band, and the closest band beneath the band gap is called the valence band. The name "valence band" was coined by analogy to chemistry, since in semiconductors (and insulators) the valence band is built out of the valence orbitals.
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 ...
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 ...
Mechanism of how density of states influence V-A spectra of tunnel junction. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy is an experimental technique which uses a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to probe the local density of electronic states (LDOS) and the band gap of surfaces and materials on surfaces at the atomic scale. [1]
Because a band diagram shows the changes in the band structure from place to place, the resolution of a band diagram is limited by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle: the band structure relies on momentum, which is only precisely defined for large length scales. For this reason, the band diagram can only accurately depict evolution of band ...
The common anion rule guesses that, since the valence band is related to anionic states, materials with the same anions should have very small valence band offsets. [citation needed] Tersoff [5] proposed the presence of a dipole layer due to induced gap states, by analogy to the metal-induced gap states in a metal–semiconductor junction.
In solid-state physics, the valence band and conduction band are the bands closest to the Fermi level, and thus determine the electrical conductivity of the solid. In nonmetals, the valence band is the highest range of electron energies in which electrons are normally present at absolute zero temperature, while the conduction band is the lowest range of vacant electronic states.