ABSTRACT
This chapter examines III-V strained layer superlattices, focusing on what mainly influences the electronic properties of interest and following a theoretical-computational approach based on the widely used density functional theory within the local density approximation. Ternary systems based on III-V semiconductors constitute an important class of new materials of highly relevant scientific interest, since their structural, electronic and transport properties can be opportunely tuned as a function of the constituent materials, composition, strain or doping. The spectacular progress made in superlattices and interface physics is due in part to great advances in epitaxial deposition techniques, such as liquid phase epitaxy, molecular beam epitaxy and metal organic chemical vapor phase deposition. The solution of the Kohn-Sham equations can be obtained through different computational methods. Experimentally, many difficulties arise when attempting to pseudo morphically grow the systems in consideration, due to the high mismatch between the lattice constants of the two binary constituents.
