Semiconductor superlattice electron wave interference filters

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Abstract
The quantitative analogies that have been established between electron wave propagation in semiconductors and optical wave propagation in dielectrics are used to demonstrate that high-resolution energy filters in semiconductors are possible. An example filter consisting of electron quarter-wavelength layers of GaAs and Ga0.55Al0.45As and a half-wavelength layer of GaAs is presented and theoretically analyzed. The pass electron energy is 0.139 eV and the passband is only 0.003 eV (2.2% of pass energy). Such a filter could be incorporated into semiconductor devices (e.g., as a hot-electron emitter in a ballistic transistor) or used to control free-space electron beams (e.g., in electron beam lithography).