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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 ...
In solid-state physics and solid-state chemistry, a band gap, also called a bandgap or energy gap, is an energy range in a solid where no electronic states exist. 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 ...
The isosurface of states with energy equal to the Fermi level is known as the Fermi surface. 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.
When the finite size of a crystal is taken into account, the wavefunctions of electrons are altered and states that are forbidden within the bulk semiconductor gap are allowed at the surface. Similarly, when a metal is deposited onto a semiconductor (by thermal evaporation , for example), the wavefunction of an electron in the semiconductor ...
In semiconductors and insulators the two bands are separated by a band gap, while in conductors the bands overlap. A band gap is an energy range in a solid where no electron states can exist due to the quantization of energy. Within the concept of bands, the energy gap between the valence band and the conduction band is the band gap. [1]
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.
In semiconductors though, the associated eigenenergies have to belong to one of the allowed energy bands. The second type of solution exists in forbidden energy gap of semiconductors as well as in local gaps of the projected band structure of metals. It can be shown that the energies of these states all lie within the band gap.
Due to this overlap, there are no forbidden energies at the interface, and the band gap of the second semiconductor is no longer contained by the band gap of the first. The behaviour of semiconductor heterojunctions depend on the alignment of the energy bands at the interface and thus on the band offsets.