 Solution

A larger-gap AlGaAs barrier has a higher conduction-band edge than GaAs. Donors in AlGaAs supply electrons that transfer into lower-energy GaAs states, leaving a positively charged donor region. The resulting electrostatic field bends the GaAs conduction band into a triangular interface well. Motion normal to the interface is quantized, while motion parallel to it remains approximately free, producing a two-dimensional electron gas.

The confined envelope peaks just inside GaAs and decays into the AlGaAs barrier; a triangular-well treatment gives an Airy-function-like envelope with boundary matching. An undoped spacer separates the electrons from the donors, strongly reducing ionized-impurity scattering compared with uniformly doped 3D material and enabling high mobility. Band offsets, donor supply, interface roughness and electrostatics jointly determine whether a single occupied subband is obtained.