INELASTIC AND ELASTIC MECHANISMS OF ELECTRON-CAPTURE TO A QUANTUM-WELL

We present a calculation of electron capture rates to a single quantum well (QW) taking full account of the quasibound 2D states, which are localized in the vicinity of a QW at energies above the barrier. To find the net capture rates we calculate the rates of capture, escape and carrier relaxation within the bound 2D states, assisted by both emission and absorption of optical phonons by an electron with arbitrary positive initial energy, as well as (quasi)elastic impurity and acoustic phonon scattering. The dependences of the capture rates of the non-degenerate electrons on the well width and temperature are discussed.