Partide-wave duality

It is possible to use the concept of partide-wave duality to provide a simple explanation of the behavior of carriers in a semiconductor nanocrystal. In a bulk inorganic semiconductor, conduction band electrons (and valence band holes) are free to move throughout the crystal, and their motion can be described satisfactorily by a linear combination of plane waves, the wavelength of which is generally of the order of nanometers. This means that, whenever the size of a semiconductor solid... 

Wave-particle duality means that matter has wavelike properties and energy has particle-like properties. These properties become observable only at the atomic scale. Because of wave-partide dually, we can never know the exact position and momentum of an electron simultaneously Ipncertairty principle). 

We must remember that the particle we are considering exhibits wave-partide duality, making it inappropriate to ask a question about how it gets from one side of the node to the other (but that is an appropriate question for a classical particle). All we know is that in the n = 5 state, for example, the particle is in the box somewhere. When we make a measurement, we ll find the particle on one side of a node or the other. Between 0 and 30 pm, we have a 20% chance of finding the particle, and the maximum chance occurs at 15 pm. 

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