• DOI:10.1088/0143-0807/25/4/006
• Corpus ID: 6280694

The discretized Schrödinger equation and simple models for semiconductor quantum wells

@article{Boykin2004TheDS,
  title={The discretized Schr{\"o}dinger equation and simple models for semiconductor quantum wells},
  author={Timothy B. Boykin and Gerhard Klimeck},
  journal={European Journal of Physics},
  year={2004},
  volume={25},
  pages={503-514}
}

• T. Boykin, Gerhard Klimeck
• Published 4 May 2004
• Physics
• European Journal of Physics

The discretized Schrodinger equation is one of the most commonly employed methods for solving one-dimensional quantum mechanics problems on the computer, yet many of its characteristics remain poorly understood. The differences with the continuous Schrodinger equation are generally viewed as shortcomings of the discrete model and are typically described in purely mathematical terms. This is unfortunate since the discretized equation is more productively viewed from the perspective of solid-state physics, which naturally links the discrete model to realistic semiconductor quantum wells and nanoelectronic devices. While the relationship between the discrete model and a one-dimensional tight-binding model has been known for some time, the fact that the discrete Schrodinger equation admits analytic solutions for quantum wells has gone unnoted. Here we present a solution to this new analytically solvable problem. We show that the differences between the discrete and continuous models are due to their fundamentally different bandstructures, and present evidence for our belief that the discrete model is the more physically reasonable one.