Electronic phase diagram of single-element silicon "strain" superlattices

Phys Rev Lett. 2010 Jul 2;105(1):016802. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.016802. Epub 2010 Jul 2.

Abstract

The evidence that the band gap of Si changes significantly with strain suggests that by alternating regions of strained and unstrained Si one creates a single-element electronic heterojunction superlattice (SL), with the carrier confinement defined by strain rather than by the chemical differences in conventional compositional SLs. Using first-principles calculations, we map out the electronic phase diagram of a one-dimensional pure-silicon SL. It exhibits a high level of phase tunability, e.g., tuning from type I to type II. Our theory rationalizes a recent observation of a strain SL in a Si nanowire and provides general guidance for the fabrication of single-element strain SLs.