The model solid approximation is a method used for determining the extrema of energy bands in semiconductors.
The method was first proposed for silicon-germanium alloys by Chris G. Van de Walle and Richard M. Martin in 1986[1] and extended to several other semiconductor materials by Van de Walle in 1989.
[2] It has been used extensively for modelling semiconductor heterostructure devices such as quantum cascade lasers.
[3] Although the electrostatic potential in a semiconductor crystal fluctuates on an atomic scale, the model solid approximation averages these fluctuations out to obtain a constant energy level for each material.
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