ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the main principles of quantum theory and how it arose and considers some applications to the modeling of charge carriers in semiconductor nanostructures. It shows that the confinement of charge carriers on scales of the order of the de Broglie wavelength will produce discrete quantum effects rather than the continuous semiclassical behavior observed for scales much larger than the de Broglie wavelength. The chapter considers Quantum wells in which one dimension is small enough to create quantum confinement. It explains that Quantum dots confined in all three dimensions; no dimensions are free. Erwin Schrodinger wave equation has been very successful with regard to being consistent with experimental measurements on quantum systems that could not be dealt with by classical physics. It is in this sense that the equation is valid; it cannot be derived from more fundamental principles. The chapter discusses some of the concepts of solid state physics required to understand nanoelectronic structures and devices.
