Investigation of quantum confinement phenomenon in composition- and diameter-modulated nanowires

The effects of diameter variation as a result of composition modulation along a nanowire on the confined energy states of electrons have been investigated theoretically. Possible confined states have been predicted by examining an effective potential term. Our results indicate that for a given radius of the wire, there exists a critical radius for modulation part below which carriers could not bound to the modulated part. The critical radius increases and reaches a limiting value as wire radius increases, specifying that the bound states could survive even when the radius of modulation decreases below the radius of remaining wire. Also, application of magnetic field could affect the critical radius so that the confinements to the modulated part are suppressed gradually by increasing the field strength, which is a sign of type-I to type-II transitions. Examination of results by the numerically solving the Schrodinger equation confirms the analytical predictions.