Abstract
This chapter applies the finite element method to the k ⋅ p equations describing electronic states in semiconductor nanostructures. It highlights advantages over other discretization methods and discusses the crucial ingredients in order to obtain accurate results. One particular issue, the appearance of unphysical or spurious solutions, is demonstrated to emerge from an inconsistency of the continuum equation system, not the discretization, and two causes are identified whose correct treatment leads to the elimination of such solutions.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) fellowship for prospective researchers. The chapter is based on results the authors obtained whilst working on the SNF-GAIN project, funded through SNSF grant 200021-107932.
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Veprek, R.G., Steiger, S. (2014). Finite Elements for k⋅p Multiband Envelope Equations. In: Ehrhardt, M., Koprucki, T. (eds) Multi-Band Effective Mass Approximations. Lecture Notes in Computational Science and Engineering, vol 94. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01427-2_4
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