Binding energy of shallow donors in a quantum well in the presence of a tilted magnetic field

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the binding energy of a neutral donor in a quantum well varies with magnetic field tilt and strength, proposing a method to determine material band offsets through measurements at different angles.

Contribution

It provides variational calculations of donor binding energy in a tilted magnetic field within a quantum well, linking energy measurements to material band offsets.

Findings

Binding energy depends on magnetic field tilt and strength.

Measurement at two angles can determine conduction band offset.

Results are specific to CdTe/CdMgTe heterostructures.

Abstract

We present results of variational calculations of the binding energy of a neutral donor in a quantum well in the presence of a magnetic field tilted relative to the QW plane. Assuming that the donor is located in the center of the QW, we perform calculations for parameters typical of a II-VI wide-gap semiconductor heterostructure, using as an example the case of a rectangular CdTe quantum well with CdMgTe barriers. We present the dependence of the binding energy of a neutral donor on the tilt angle and on the magnitude of the applied magnetic filed. As a key result, we show that measurement of the binding energy of a donor at two angles of the magnetic field with respect to the quantum well plane can be used to unambiguously determined the conduction band offset of the materials building up heterostructure.