The spin-splitting energies of the conduction band for ideal wurtzite materials are calculated within the nearest-neighbor tight-binding method. It is found that ideal wurtzite bulk inversion asymmetry yields not only a spin-degenerate line ͑along the k z axis͒ but also a minimum-spin-splitting surface, which can be regarded as a spin-degenerate surface in the form of bk z 2 − k ʈ 2 =0 ͑b Ϸ 4͒ near the ⌫ point. This phenomenon is referred to as the Dresselhaus effect ͑defined as the cubic-ink term͒ in bulk wurtzite materials because it generates a term ␥ wz ͑bk z 2 − k ʈ 2 ͒͑ x k y − y k x ͒ in the two-band k • p Hamiltonian.
Spin-splitting energies of wurtzite AlN and InN are calculated using the linear combination of atomic orbital method, and the data are analyzed utilizing the two-band k • p model. It is found that in the k • p scheme, a spin-degenerate surface exists in the wurtzite Brillouin zone. Consequently, the D'yakonov-Perel' spin relaxation mechanism can be effectively suppressed for all spin components in the ͓001͔-grown wurtzite quantum wells ͑QWs͒ at a resonant condition through application of appropriate strain or a suitable gate bias. Therefore, wurtzite QWs ͑e.g., InGaN/AlGaN and GaN/ AlGaN͒ are potential structures for spintronic devices such as the resonant spin lifetime transistor.
The 2×2 conduction band, 4×4 hole band, and 2×2 spin-orbit split-off band matrices of zincblende semiconductors are obtained by using a block diagonal technique. Importantly, the block diagonal matrices incorporate not only the interband coupling effect but also the bulk inversion asymmetry effect. Analytical expressions for the conduction band spin-splitting energies of GaAs zincblende bulk and quantum wells grown on [001]-, [111]-, and [110]-oriented substrates are formulated by solving the block diagonal matrices. The results show that odd-in-k terms exist in both the bulk and the quantum well expressions due to the bulk inversion asymmetry effect. The presence of these terms is shown to induce the spin-splitting phenomenon.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.