Valley splitting (VS) in strained SiGe/Si/SiGe quantum wells grown on (001) and 2° miscut substrates is computed in a magnetic field. Calculations of flat structures significantly overestimate, while calculations of perfectly ordered structures underestimate experimentally observed VS. Step disorder and confinement alloy disorder raise the VS to the experimentally observed levels. Atomistic alloy disorder is identified as the critical physics, which cannot be modeled with analytical effective mass theory. NEMO-3D is used to simulate up to 1,000,000 atoms, where strain is computed in the valence-force field and electronic structure in the sp3d5s* model.

This is a preprint of the publication: Neerav Kharche, Marta Prada, Timothy B. Boykin, and Gerhard Klimeck
"Valley-splitting in strained Silicon quantum wells modeled with 2 degree miscuts, step disorder, and alloy disorder", Applied Phys. Lett. Vol. 90, 092109 (2007). The published document resides at Applied Physics Letters.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Neerav Kharche, marta prada, Timothy Boykin, Gerhard Klimeck (2008), "Valley splitting in strained silicon quantum wells modeled with 2 degree miscuts, step disorder, and alloy disorder," https://nanohub.org/resources/3827.

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1. disorder
2. nanoelectronics
3. tight-binding