OPTOELECTRONICS FOR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES

Elementary quantum mechanics. Heterostructures. Anderson theory for band alignment. Band diagrams.
Capacitance-voltage profiling. Quantum wells. Compound semiconductor devices, heterojunctions and their
properties. Optical properties of semiconductors. Radiative transitions, light absorption; rate equations.
Non-radiative recombination, Auger recombination. Theory of radiative recombination in semiconductors.
Light-emitting devices, Light Emitting Diodes (LED). Current-voltage LED characteristics. Non-ideality of I-V
characteristics, parasitic resistances. Carrier loss and carrier overflow; electron blocking layers: case
histories, efficiency droop. Dependence on temperature of electrical and optical characteristics. Internal
and external quantum efficiency, extraction efficiency. High efficiency LEDs. Semiconductor lasers:
conditions for laser oscillation, gain threshold voltage.
Mode propagation in the optical cavity. Laser diodes operating principles. Steady-state rate equations.
Optical power vs current laser characteristics. Semiconductor lasers for optical fiber communications.
Superluminescent diodes. Photodetectors: pin diodes, avalanche photodetectors (APD), Metal Semiconductor
Metal detectors (MSM), fototransistors. Solar cells: structure, operating principles, deviations from
ideality. Optimized structures for solar cells: multijunction cells, thin film photovoltaic devices. Solar
concentration. Reliability in optoelectronics, assignment of master thesis topics.