ABSTRACT
In three-dimensional semiconductors the energy and momentum conservation conditions restrict the
phase volume of phonons interacting with charge carriers.
The electron with a wave vector k can be
scattered only by a phonon whose wave vector q has a length q & 2k. In low-dimensional structures the
component of an electron wave vector along the confinement direction k
is not defined. According to
the uncertainty principle, Dk
, 1=a; where a is the characteristic size of a quantum well or a quantum
wire. Therefore, in structures with narrow quantum wells the given restriction on the length of a phonon
wave vector is removed and the phase volume of “electronic” phonons, those interacting with charge
carriers, sharply increases.
