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Using self-consistent Non-Equilibrium Green's Function formalism, the effect of the inelastic scattering due to electron-phonon interaction on the transfer and output characteristics of a coaxially gated generic nanowire field effect transistor has been studied in detail. The scattering strength D o is varied from 0.003 eV 2 to 0.3 eV 2 . There is change in the threshold voltage and suppression of channel current with increasing scattering strength. We also studied the effect of channel inhomogeneities on electron energy. The channel inhomogeneities are invoked by introducing potential step inside the channel. We study the energy relaxation due to inelastic scattering and channel inhomogeneities by comparing the normalized terminal current per energy for the source and drain terminals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a ballistic model for the transport of electronic excitation energy induced by keV particle bombardment onto a solid surface. Starting from a free electron gas model, the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) is employed to follow the evolution of the temporal and spatial distribution function f ( r → , k → , t ) describing the occupation probability of an electronic state k → at position r → and time t . Three different initializations of the distribution function are considered: i) a thermal distribution function with a locally and temporally elevated electron temperature, ii) a peak excitation at a specific energy above the Fermi level with a quasi-isotropic distribution in k -space and iii) an anisotropic peak excitation with k -vectors oriented in a specific transport direction. While the first initialization resembles a distribution function which may, for instance, result from electronic friction of moving atoms within an ion induced collision cascade, the peak excitation can in principle result from an autoionization process after excitation in close binary collisions. By numerically solving the BTE, we study the electronic energy exchange along a one dimensional transport direction to obtain a time and space resolved excitation energy distribution function, which is then analyzed in view of general transport characteristics of the chosen model system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conductance of semiconductor nanowires is strongly dependent on their electrostatic history because of the overwhelming influence of charged surface and interface states on electron confinement and scattering. We show that InAs nanowire field-effect transistor devices can be conditioned to suppress resonances that obscure quantized conduction thereby revealing as many as six sub-bands in the conductance spectra as the Fermi-level is swept across the sub-band energies. The energy level spectra extracted from conductance, coupled with detailed modeling shows the significance of the interface state charge distribution revealing the Coulomb landscape of the nanowire device. Inclusion of self-consistent Coulomb potentials, the measured geometrical shape of the nanowire, the gate geometry and nonparabolicity of the conduction band provide a quantitative and accurate description of the confinement potential and resulting energy level structure. Surfaces of the nanowire terminated by HfO2 are shown to have their interface donor density reduced by a factor of 30 signifying the passivating role played by HfO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tapered bottlebrush polymers have novel nanoscale polymer architecture. Using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, we showed that these polymers have the unique ability to generate thermal rectification in a single polymer molecule and offer an exceptional platform for unveiling different heat conduction regimes. In sharp contrast to all other reported asymmetric nanostructures, we observed that the heat current from the wide end to the narrow end (the forward direction) in tapered bottlebrush polymers is smaller than that in the opposite direction (the backward direction). We found that a more disordered to less disordered structural transition within tapered bottlebrush polymers is essential for generating nonlinearity in heat conduction for thermal rectification. Moreover, the thermal rectification ratio increased with device length, reaching as high as ~70% with a device length of 28.5 nm. This large thermal rectification with strong length dependence uncovered an unprecedented phenomenon-diffusive thermal transport in the forward direction and ballistic thermal transport in the backward direction. This is the first observation of radically different transport mechanisms when heat flow direction changes in the same system. The fundamentally new knowledge gained from this study can guide exciting research into nanoscale organic thermal diodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron surface states in solids are typically confined to the outermost atomic layers and, due to surface disorder, have negligible impact on electronic transport. Here, we demonstrate a very different behavior for surface states in graphene. We probe the wavelike character of these states by Fabry–Perot (FP) interferometry and find that, in contrast to theoretical predictions, these states can propagate ballistically over micron-scale distances. This is achieved by embedding a graphene resonator formed by gate-defined p–n junctions within a graphene superconductor–normal–superconductor structure. By combining superconducting Aharanov–Bohm interferometry with Fourier methods, we visualize spatially resolved current flow and image FP resonances due to p–n–p cavity modes. The coherence of the standing-wave edge states is revealed by observing a new family of FP resonances, which coexist with the bulk resonances. The edge resonances have periodicity distinct from that of the bulk states manifest in a repeated spatial redistribution of current on and off the FP resonances. This behavior is accompanied by a modulation of the multiple Andreev reflection amplitude on-and-off resonance, indicating that electrons propagate ballistically in a fully coherent fashion. These results, which were not anticipated by theory, provide a practical route to developing electron analog of optical FP resonators at the graphene edge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal–molecule–metal junctions are the key components of molecular electronics circuits. Gaining a microscopic understanding of their conducting properties is central to advancing the field. In the present contribution, we highlight the fundamental differences between single-molecule and ensemble junctions focusing on the fundamentals of transport through molecular clusters. In this way, we elucidate the collective behavior of parallel molecular wires, bridging the gap between single molecule and large-area monolayer electronics, where even in the latter case transport is usually dominated by finite-size islands. On the basis of first-principles charge-transport simulations, we explain why the scaling of the conductivity of a junction has to be distinctly nonlinear in the number of molecules it contains. Moreover, transport through molecular clusters is found to be highly inhomogeneous with pronounced edge effects determined by molecules in locally different electrostatic environments. These effects are most pronounced for comparably small clusters, but electrostatic considerations show that they prevail also for more extended systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A TCAD-oriented mobility model, whose main features are: 1) inclusion of ballistic effects in the linear region and 2) smooth transition between the linear and saturation regions, is presented. It is applied to short-channel double-gate thin-body InGaAs MOSFETs. The bases of the model are the concept of ballistic mobility and Matthiessen's rule in the linear regime, and the saturation velocity within a modified Canali model at high-longitudinal fields. Comparisons with accurate semiclassical multivalley multisubband Monte Carlo transport simulations indicate that TCAD simulations making use of the proposed model are able to correctly predict the terminal currents and the internal device quantities in the linear regime in a 15-nm device with no need of fitting parameters. In the saturation region, an empirical adjustment of the saturation velocity is needed, after which currents are accurately predicted for a wide range of gate lengths and bias conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A graphene ballistic rectifier is used in conjunction with an antenna to demonstrate a rectenna as a terahertz (THz) detector. A small-area (<1 μm²) local gate is used to adjust the Fermi level in the device to optimize the output while minimizing the impact on the cutoff frequency. The device operates in both n- and p-type transport regimes and shows a peak extrinsic responsivity of 764 V/W and a corresponding noise equivalent power of 34 pW Hz-1/2 at room temperature with no indications of a cutoff frequency up to 0.45 THz. The device also demonstrates a linear response for more than 3 orders of magnitude of input power due to its zero threshold voltage, quadratic current-voltage characteristics and high saturation current. Finally, the device is used to take an image of an optically opaque object at 0.685 THz, demonstrating potential in both medical and security imaging applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Majorana zero modes (MZMs) are prime candidates for robust topological quantum bits, holding a great promise for quantum computing. Semiconducting nanowires with strong spin orbit coupling offer a promising platform to harness one-dimensional electron transport for Majorana physics. Demonstrating the topological nature of MZMs relies on braiding, accomplished by moving MZMs around each other in a certain sequence. Most of the proposed Majorana braiding circuits require nanowire networks with minimal disorder. Here, the electronic transport across a junction between two merged InSb nanowires is studied to investigate how disordered these nanowire networks are. Conductance quantization plateaus are observed in most of the contact pairs of the epitaxial InSb nanowire networks: the hallmark of ballistic transport behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene nanoribbons and constrictions are envisaged as fundamental components of future carbon-based nanoelectronic and spintronic devices. At nanoscale, electronic effects in these devices depend heavily on the dimensions of the active channel and the nature of edges. Hence, controlling both these parameters is crucial to understand the physics in such systems. This review is about the recent progress in the fabrication of graphene nanoribbons and constrictions in terms of low temperature quantum transport. In particular, recent advancements using encapsulated graphene allowing for quantized conductance and future experiments towards exploring spin effects in these devices are presented. The influence of charge carrier inhomogeneity and the important length scales which play a crucial role for transport in high quality samples are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel kinetic velocity model (KVM) for the drift-diffusion (DD) transport approach to describe ballistic effects. It also presents a simulation study of the ballistic effect in short-channel InGaAs and silicon FETs. Monte Carlo and subband Boltzmann transport equation results as well as DD simulations using the simple gate length-dependent ballistic mobility proposed in the literature and the KVM model are compared and discussed. Basic concepts, such as the Matthiessen rule and Fermi-Dirac statistics, are analyzed with a view on ballistic transport in devices in the linear and saturation regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An all-region short-channel MOSFET, model is developed for nanowire semiconductors with 1-D density of states. It is shown that in the quantum capacitance limit, the long-channel saturation current exhibits a (Vgs − Vt)3/2 dependence on gate voltage. With the velocity saturation effect implemented in the model, the Ids–Vgs characteristics of 1-D MOSFETs are compared to those of 2-D MOSFETs at 10-nm channel length. The above threshold model is joined with a subthreshold current model derived from short-channel solutions to form an I– V model continuous in all regions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We present experimental results of transverse electron-focusing measurements performed using n-type GaAs. In the presence of a small transverse magnetic field (B), electrons are focused from the injector to detector leading to focusing peaks periodic in B. We show that the odd-focusing peaks exhibit a split, where each sub-peak represents a population of a particular spin branch emanating from the injector. The temperature dependence reveals that the peak splitting is well defined at low temperature whereas it smears out at high temperature indicating the exchange-driven spin polarisation in the injector is dominant at low temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ballistic magnetoresistance of a geometrically confined 180 head-to-head domain wall at a magnetic point contact in a two-dimensional (2D) metallic nanowire is studied theoretically using the multichannel Landauer-Büttiker formalism. The analysis is based on coherent scattering of the carriers by the spin-dependent potential associated with the wall structure. The transmission properties of coherent states are obtained by introducing a new algorithm to solve the coupled spin channels Schrödinger equations with mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions applied far from the domain wall. The conductance and thermally averaged magnetoresistance of the domain wall are computed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. As expected, an oscillatory behavior with successively decreasing extrema is achieved in the magnetoresistance by increasing the domain wall width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operating regime of MOS transistors shifts from collision-dominated drift-diffusion (DD) to less-collision quasi-ballistic (QB) regime. The impact of transport mechanism on the low-frequency noise (LFN) is not well studied for QB devices. Most of the studies rely on the existing theories that were developed for DD-based devices to study LFN even in nanoscale regime. Validity of these models is questionable. In this letter, we extend the conventional carrier-number and correlated-mobility fluctuation model to the QB regime. The model is in accordance with the “apparent mean free path” (\lambda \textit {app}) model, which predicts scattering limited noise mechanism in the QB regime. The model is validated with LFN measurement data for III-V QB devices, and shows good agreement with the expected behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have used cooled scanning probe microscopy (SPM) to study electron motion in nanoscale devices. The charged tip of the microscope was raster-scanned at constant height above the surface as the conductance of the device was measured. The image charge scatters electrons away, changing the path of electrons through the sample. Using this technique, we imaged cyclotron orbits that flow between two narrow contacts in the magnetic focusing regime for ballistic hBN-graphene-hBN devices. We present herein an analysis of our magnetic focusing imaging results based on the effects of the tip-created charge density dip on the motion of ballistic electrons. The density dip locally reduces the Fermi energy, creating a force that pushes electrons away from the tip. When the tip is above the cyclotron orbit, electrons are deflected away from the receiving contact, creating an image by reducing the transmission between contacts. The data and our analysis suggest that the graphene edge is rather rough, and electrons scattering off the edge bounce in random directions. However, when the tip is close to the edge, it can enhance transmission by bouncing electrons away from the edge, toward the receiving contact. Our results demonstrate that cooled SPM is a promising tool to investigate the motion of electrons in ballistic graphene devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, lateral gate-all-around nano-sheet transistors (NSH-FETs) are explored from intrinsic performance to dc and ring oscillator (RO) benchmark compared with FinFETs and nanowire transistors (NW-FETs) for sub-7-nm node. The band structure calculated technology computer aided design results show comparable intrinsic performance to FinFETs at same channel cross section. On top of that, dc and RO are evaluated by taking into account electrostatics, parasitic components, and layout configurations. The NSH-FETs show an advantage in drive current with the NSH width but their RO performance is limited by the device capacitance. The multiple narrow NSH-FET shows ~5% higher drive current compared to the NW-FET at similar subthreshold swing, allowing heavier capacitive loaded circuit. In addition, NSH-FETs can provide the device design freedom from aggressive fin pitch scaling. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We report on the observation of magnetoresistance oscillations in graphene p-n junctions. The oscillations have been observed for six samples, consisting of single-layer and bilayer graphene, and persist up to temperatures of 30 K, where standard Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are no longer discernible. The oscillatory magnetoresistance can be reproduced by tight-binding simulations. We attribute this phenomenon to the modulated densities of states in the n- and p-regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coherent interconnection of quantum bits remains an ongoing challenge in quantum information technology. Envisioned hardware to achieve this goal is based on semiconductor nanowire (NW) circuits, comprising individual NW devices that are linked through ballistic interconnects. However, maintaining the sensitive ballistic conduction and confinement conditions across NW intersections is a nontrivial problem. Here, we go beyond the characterization of a single NW device and demonstrate ballistic one-dimensional (1D) quantum transport in InAs NW cross-junctions, monolithically integrated on Si. Characteristic 1D conductance plateaus are resolved in field-effect measurements across up to four NW-junctions in series. The 1D ballistic transport and sub-band splitting is preserved for both crossing-directions. We show that the 1D modes of a single injection terminal can be distributed into multiple NW branches. We believe that NW cross-junctions are well-suited as cross-directional communication links for the reliable transfer of quantum information as required for quantum computational systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the coherent phonon thermal transport at low temperatures in Gold nanowires, in order to study the effects of scattering on the lattice thermal conductivity. Three types of shaped joint nanostructures are employed in our calculation. We present a detailed study of the thermal conductance as a function of the temperature for different shaped joint. This is done by solving the phonon Boltzmann transport equation in the ballistic regime and calculating the transmission rates of the vibration modes through the consideration of the phonon group velocity modification in the system. The transmission properties are calculated by use of the matching method in the harmonic approximation with nearest and next nearest neighbor force constants. The results show that the transmission probabilities depend on the type of joint nanostructure. The pronounced fluctuations of the transmission spectra as a function of the frequency can be understood as Fano resonances. It is also found that the behavior of the thermal conductance versus temperature is qualitatively different for different nanostructures and depends sensitively on the width of the shaped joint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate an experimental study on the ballistic transport behavior of sub-100 nm GeOI n-MOSFETs, by adopting an ultrafast pulsed I–V system for measurement. High performance GeOI n-MOSFETs suffer severer self-heating effect and traps in the dc characterization process than in a “real” high-speed IC circuit. In this letter, the ballistic transport parameters for nanoscale Ge n-MOSFETs are extracted by the pulsed I–V method, and is compared with the SOI n-MOSFETs. The ballsiticity for Ge MOSFETs is higher than Si transistors at the same gate length L\text {G} . Furthermore, the scalability of the ballistic parameters for Ge n-MOSFETs is modeled and predicted for the sub-10-nm technology nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we investigate the carrier transport characteristics of the ultrascaled Si FinFETs. Traditional dc characterization technique is compared with the ultrafast pulsed IV method. Due to the severe self-heating effect introduced in the characterization process, the ballistic transport parameters extracted using dc method would show essential discrepancies from those in the real high-speed IC circuits. Therefore, an ultrafast pulsed IV measurement technique is proposed for accurate ballistic transport characterization. Furthermore, since the series resistance ( R{\textbf {SD}} ) of the Si FinFETs is temperature-dependent, a modified backscattering model is adopted to extract the ballistic transport parameters without the influence of the temperature-variant R{\textbf {SD}} . A ballisticity scaling model was established to predict the scalability of the ballistic transport parameters. It is found that very high ballisticity could be achieved for FinFETs with sub-10-nm technology nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ballistic transport in III–V semiconductors-based p-channel double-gate MOSFETs is theoretically evaluated. The valence band structure is calculated by solving the eight-band k \cdot p Schrödinger and the Poisson equations self-consistently. A semiclassical ballistic model is employed to assess the hole transport properties. Ballistic characteristics are analyzed as a function of channel material, crystal orientation, and strain effect. The results indicate that Sb-based III–V materials can provide comparable drive current with the Ge counterpart. In addition, (110)/[ \overline 110 ] oriented devices exhibit better performance than other surface and transport directions whatever considered material. We also demonstrate that compressively strained GaSb devices outperform relaxed Ge in terms of ballistic current. According to our simulations, as effective oxide thickness scales down to 0.5 nm, both the group IV and III–V p-channel devices can be assumed to operate in the classical capacitance limits, where the ID – VG characteristics are basically governed by the transport effective mass. As a consequence, I \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON} enhancement is owing to the reduced transport effective mass whether it results from alternative materials, optimized transport directions, and strain effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetoresistance of a one-dimensional electron gas in a metallic ferromagnetic nanowire containing two atomic-size domain walls has been investigated in the presence of spin-orbit interaction. The magnetoresistance is calculated in the ballistic regime, within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism. It has been demonstrated that the conductance of a magnetic nanowire with double domain walls can be controlled through the domain walls separation. Also, we have represented another alternative way that enables us to handle easily the magnetoresistance of such a system as well as its conductance by utilizing the Rashba-type spin-orbit interaction induced by the external gates.

We present low-temperature magnetotransport measurements on selectively grown Sb 2 Te 3 -based topological insulator ring structures. These devices display clear Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in the conductance originating from phase-coherent transport around the ring. The temperature dependence of the oscillation amplitude indicates that the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations originate from ballistic transport along the ring arms. We attribute these oscillations to the topological surface states. Further insight into the phase coherence is gained by comparing with similar Aharonov-Bohm-type oscillations in topological insulator nanoribbons exposed to an axial magnetic field. Here, quasi-ballistic phase-coherent transport is confirmed for closed-loop topological surface states in the transverse direction enclosing the nanoribbon. In contrast, the appearance of universal conductance fluctuations indicates phase-coherent transport in the diffusive regime, which is attributed to bulk carrier transport. Thus, it appears that even in the presence of diffusive p -type charge carriers in Aharonov-Bohm ring structures, phase-coherent quasi-ballistic transport of topological surface states is maintained over long distances.