Effective mass and semiconductor bands
Electrons in a crystal behave as quasiparticles with a band-dependent effective mass.
$$E(k)\simeq E_c+\frac{\hbar^2 k^2}{2m^*}$$
Physical intuition
Electrons in a crystal behave as quasiparticles with a band-dependent effective mass.
Deep dive: physical mechanism
Expand a conduction-band dispersion around its minimum; the curvature sets the response to confinement and electric fields.
What is measured experimentally?
Transport spectroscopy and cyclotron resonance constrain effective mass.
Assumptions, noise and limitations
The parabolic approximation fails far from the band edge and in strongly mixed bands.
Research and simulation exercise
Compare confinement energies for two effective masses.
Connect the ideas
Explore the chapter overview, learning path, and references.