1Physics of hole transport in strained silicon MOSFET inversion layers

A comprehensive quantum anisotropic transport model for holes is used to study silicon PMOS inversion layer transport under arbitrary stress. The results have shown that the hole band structure is dominated by 12 'wings,' where mechanical stress, as well as the vertical field under certain stress conditions, alter the energies of the few lowest hole subbands, changing the transport effective mass, density-of-states, and scattering rates, and thus affecting the mobility.