Abstract
The interaction of conduction and valence bands in narrow gap semiconductors such as InSb and HgCdTe influences the position and width of subband energy levels in space-charge layers. While a nonzero width can only occur if electrons from the conduction band can tunnel into approximately degenerate states of the valence band the level shifts due to band mixing are always present. We present a Green's function treatment which allows in a simple way to discuss the dependence of band mixing effects on the parameters of thek·p-Hamiltonian in particular the band gap. The essential qualitative feature of the level shifts is adecrease of subband energy separation withdecreasing effective mass. This agrees with recent experimental results for Hg1-x Cd x Te.
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Brenig, W., Kasai, H. Band mixing in narrow gap semiconductors. Z. Physik B - Condensed Matter 54, 191–194 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01319182
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01319182