Binding energies of donors in quantum wells under hydrostatic pressure

Abstract The binding energies of donors in quantum wells are investigated with a variational method considering the influence of finite barriers under hydrostatic pressure. In the calculation, we take into account the electronic effective mass, dielectric constant, and conduction band offset between the well and barriers varying with pressure. The numerical result shows that the donor binding energy linearly increases with the pressure from 0 to 40 kbar. The pressure effect for GaAs/Al x Ga 1− x As quantum wells is more obvious than that for GaN/Al x Ga 1− x N quantum wells. We also calculate the binding energy as a function of the Al concentration, which can influences the barrier height. The result indicates that the donor binding energy monotonically increases with increasing the barrier height.