Calculation of electronic states in semiconductor heterostructures with anempirical spds* tight-binding model

We illustrate how the tight-binding formalism can be used to accurately com pute the electronic states in semiconductor quantum wells and superlattices . To this end we consider a recently developed empirical tight-binding mode l which carefully reproduces ab initio pseudopotential calculations and exp erimental results of bulk semiconductors. The present approach is particula rly suited both for short-period superlattices and large and complex unit c ells where the transferability of the hopping parameters is required. First applications for ultrathin GaAs/AlAs superlattices and InGaAs/AlAs heteros tructures are presented and discussed.