Effects of macroscopic polarization in III-V nitride multiple quantum wells

Huge built-in electric fields have been predicted to exist in wurtzite III- V nitrides thin films and multilayers. Such fields originate from heteroint erface discontinuities of the macroscopic bulk polarization of the nitrides . Here we discuss the background theory, the role of spontaneous polarizati on in this context, and the practical implications of built-in polarization fields in nitride nanostructures. To support our arguments, we present det ailed self-consistent tight-binding simulations of typical nitride quantum well structures in which polarization effects are dominant. [S0163-1829(99) 02235-3].