Two-Dimensional Electron Gas (2DEG) - overview
Physics Accomplishment | 1966
IBM researchers: Alan B. Fowler, Frank F. Fang, Webster E. Howard and Phillip J. Stiles
Where the work was done: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
What we accomplished: The demonstration of surface quantization (the 2DEG) at the interface between silicon and silicon dioxide by Fowler, Fang, Howard and Stiles has had an ever broadening impact in condensed matter physics. This was the first demonstration that clean quantization could occur in a solid state system.
2DEG has since been observed in many other materials systems and structures. It is now seen as the original example of an electronic system of reduced dimensionality, and such systems have many important technological applications. This physics enabled many important practical applications, including the semiconductor quantum dots used to brighten the colors produced by your flat screen TV, and the ability to adjust the color spectrum of LED light bulbs.
Related links: Magneto-Oscillatory Conductance in Silicon Surfaces, Physical Review Letters 1966
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