APPLICATIONS OF MBE-GROWN HETEROSTRUCTURES AND QUANTUM-WELLS IN FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH AND IN ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR-DEVICES

We review the various applications of MBE-grown heterostructures both in fundamental research and in electronic and optical devices. The usual effects in directly grown planar structures, namely band discontinuities, impurity and carrier localization, 2D quantization and confinement, bandgap engineering and increased light-matter interaction either give rise to new physics or yield enhanced performance, often by combining together. Two new recent avenues have recently opened, either due to three-dimensional structurization of materials properties (with application in ballistic deterministic transport, quantum interference effects and granular electronics) or due to the simultaneous quantization of electrons and photons, in so-called quantum microcavities.