Influence of Size on Effective Band Gap of Silicon Nano-Wire

Abstract

In this article, the effect of wire-size on the effective band gap of Silicon (Si) is analyzed. The band gap is one of the most significant electronic parameters of semiconductor material. The band gap of semiconductor depends on temperature, pressure, composition, number of atoms as well as on the size of the particle. When semiconductors are synthesized at nanoscale level, their small particle size gives rise to quantum confinement and the energy bands are split into discrete levels. It is observed that effective band gap of semi-conductor depends on the size of the wire (number of atoms and dimensions) and it increases by decreasing the size of Si nanowire. The size quantization effect is noticed as a shift of the effective band gap toward lower values with increasing temperature of Si nanowire which also shows increase in atomic vibrations. Keywords: Size effect; Energy band gap; Semiconductor, effective mass; nanowire.