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In this paper, we study tunneling current properties through SiO2 gate oxides in Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) by applying a first principles method based on the density-functional theory and nonequilibrium Green’s function approach. We employed three structural models of SiO2 layers, which are β-quartz, β-cristobalite, and β-tridymite. As a result, we found that the β-cristobalite and β-tridymite models indicate similar tunneling current properties, while the β-quartz model predicts a substantially lower tunneling current. Further, the largest tunneling current is obtained for the β-tridymite SiO2 model, which is consistent with bandstructure parameters estimated for bulk SiO2 crystals. Therefore, electronic properties of bulk SiO2 crystals can still be important for tunneling current analysis in the nanoscale range of oxide thickness.

In this paper, we study the influences of a channel source-end potential profile on the ballistic transport of carriers in Si metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) based on a quantum-corrected Monte Carlo device simulation. As a result, we found that higher ballistic efficiency is expected in MOSFETs with a heterojunction bottleneck barrier, such as Schottky source/drain MOSFETs, compared to that with the conventional p-n junction source and drain. Such a superior ballistic behavior is demonstrated due to the narrower bottleneck potential profile formed at the source-channel interface.

GaSb based quantum wells (QWs) show promising optical properties in near-infrared spectral range. In this paper, we present photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies of InxGa1−xSb/AlyGa1−ySb QWs and discuss the possible thermal quenching and non-radiative carrier recombination mechanisms of the QW structures. The In and Al concentrations as well as the QW thicknesses were precisely determined with the X-ray diffraction measurements. Temperature dependent time-integrated and time-resolved PL spectroscopies resulted in the thermal activation energies of ∼45 meV, and the overall self-consistent calculation of the band parameters based on the measured physical values confirmed that the activation energies are due to the hole escape from the QW to the barriers. The relation of the present single carrier escape mechanism with the other escape mechanisms reported with other material systems was discussed based on the estimated band offset. The relation of the present thermal hole escape to the Auger recombination was also discussed.

Magnetic nanowires (NWs) are promising as material for use in spintronics and as the precursor of permanent magnets because they have unique properties due to their high aspect ratio. The growth of magnetic Fe whiskers was reported in the 1960s, but the diameter was not on a nanoscale level and the growth mechanism was not fully elucidated. In the present paper, we report the almost vertical growth of Fe NWs on a single crystal yttrium-stabilized zirconia (Y0.15Zr0.85O2) by a thermal CVD method. The NWs show a characteristic taper part on the bottom growing from a trigonal pyramidal nucleus. The taper angle and length can be controlled by changing the growth condition in two steps, which will lead to obtaining uniformly distributed thin Fe NWs for applications.