Electrons and Phonons in Semiconductor Multilayers

This book provides a detailed description of the quantum confinement of electrons and phonons in semiconductor wells, superlattices and quantum wires, and shows how this affects their mutual interactions. The transition from microscopic to continuum models is discussed, emphasising the use of quasi-continuum theory to describe the confinement of optical phonons and electrons. The hybridisation of optical phonons and their interactions with electrons are treated in detail, as are other electron scattering mechanisms. The book concludes with an account of the electron distribution function in three-, two- and one-dimensional systems, in the presence of electrical or optical excitation. The book will be of great use to graduate students and researchers investigating low-dimensional semiconductor structures, as well as to those developing new devices based on such systems.