Effect of strain on hole tunneling dynamics in double barrier heterostructures

Abstract A study of the effects of strain due to external stress and lattice mismatch on hole tunneling times in double barrier heterostructures is presented. The band structure of holes is calculated based on a k·p method within the envelope function approximation, including band mixing effects. The phase delay time is obtained from the energy derivative of the total phase shift of the wave function upon tunneling and is used to estimate the hole tunneling time. The results demonstrate that strain can be utilized to tailor hole tunneling times by changing the energy separation and, consequently, the mixing between heavy hole and light hole states in the quantum well.