The model solid approximation is a method used for determining the extrema of energy bands in semiconductors. The method was first proposed for silicon-germanium alloys by Chris G. Van de Walle and Richard M. Martin in 1986[1] and extended to several other semiconductor materials by Van de Walle in 1989.[2] It has been used extensively for modelling semiconductor heterostructure devices such as quantum cascade lasers.[3]
Although the electrostatic potential in a semiconductor crystal fluctuates on an atomic scale, the model solid approximation averages these fluctuations out to obtain a constant energy level for each material.
References
Van de Walle, Chris G.; Martin, Richard M. (1986-10-15), "Theoretical calculations of heterojunction discontinuities in the Si/Ge system", Physical Review B, 34 (8): 5621, Bibcode:1986PhRvB..34.5621V, doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.34.5621
Van de Walle, Chris G. (1989-01-15), "Band lineups and deformation potentials in the model-solid theory", Physical Review B, 39 (3): 1871, Bibcode:1989PhRvB..39.1871V, doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.39.1871
Faist, Jérôme; Capasso, Federico; Sivco, Deborah L.; Hutchinson, Albert L.; Chu, Sung-Nee G.; Cho, Alfred Y. Cho (1998-02-09), "Short wavelength (λ~3.4 μm) quantum cascade laser based on strained compensated InGaAs/AlInAs", Applied Physics Letters., 72 (6): 680, Bibcode:1998ApPhL..72..680F, doi:10.1063/1.120843
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