A characterization of well-founded algebraic lattices

We characterize well-founded algebraic lattices by means of forbidden subsemilattices of the join-semilattice made of their compact elements. More specifically, we show that an algebraic lattice $L$ is well-founded if and only if $K(L)$, the join-semilattice of compact elements of $L$, is well-founded and contains neither $[\omega]^{<\omega}$, nor $\underline\Omega(\omega^*)$ as a join-subsemilattice. As an immediate corollary, we get that an algebraic modular lattice $L$ is well-founded if and only if $K(L)$ is well-founded and contains no infinite independent set. If $K(L)$ is a join-subsemilattice of $I_{<\omega}(Q)$, the set of finitely generated initial segments of a well-founded poset $Q$, then $L$ is well-founded if and only if $K(L)$ is well-quasi-ordered.