Electrons in semiconductors: how big are they?

Abstract

In this paper, the arguments for various sizes of electrons is considered for semiconductor devices. In particular, in the quasi-two-dimensional electron gas of ballistic quantum dots, it is argued that the effective size of the electron packet is only /spl lambda//sub F///spl pi/, a value providing an almost minimum uncertainty packet. This size also reflects the "squeezing" of the packet in two dimensions as the carrier density is increased.