The majority of the chapters in this volume represent a series of lectures. that were given at a workshop on quantum transport in ultrasmall electron devices, held at San Miniato, Italy, in March 1987. These have, of course, been extended and updated during the period that has elapsed since the workshop was held, and have been supplemented with additional chapters devoted to the tunneling process in semiconductor quantum-well structures. The aim of this work is to review and present the current understanding in nonequilibrium quantum transport appropriate to semiconductors. Gen erally, the...

The technological means now exists for approaching the fundamentallimiting scales of solid state electronics in which a single carrier can, in principle, represent a single bit in an information flow. In this light, the prospect of chemically, or biologically, engineered molccular-scale structures which might support information processing functions has enticed workers for many years. The one common factor in all suggested molecular switches, ranging from the experimentally feasible proton-tunneling structure, to natural systems such as the micro-tubule, is that each proposed structure deals...

The operation of semiconductor devices depends upon the use of electrical potential barriers (such as gate depletion) in controlling the carrier densities (electrons and holes) and their transport. Although a successful device design is quite complicated and involves many aspects, the device engineering is mostly to devise a "best" device design by defIning optimal device structures and manipulating impurity profIles to obtain optimal control of the carrier flow through the device. This becomes increasingly diffIcult as the device scale becomes smaller and smaller. Since the introduction of...

The application of the Monte Carlo method to the simulation of semiconductor devices is presented. A review of the physics of transport in semiconductors is given, followed by an introduction to the physics of semiconductor devices. The Monte Carlo algorithm is discussed in great details, and specific applications to the modelling of semiconductor devices are given. A comparison with traditional simulators is also presented.

This book originated out of a desire to provide students with an instrument which might lead them from knowledge of elementary classical and quantum physics to moderntheoreticaltechniques for the analysisof electrontransport in semiconductors. The book is basically a textbook for students of physics, material science, and electronics. Rather than a monograph on detailed advanced research in a speci?c area, it intends to introduce the reader to the fascinating ?eld of electron dynamics in semiconductors, a ?eld that, through its applications to electronics, greatly contributed to the...

The operation of semiconductor devices depends upon the use of electrical potential barriers (such as gate depletion) in controlling the carrier densities (electrons and holes) and their transport. Although a successful device design is quite complicated and involves many aspects, the device engineering is mostly to devise a "best" device design by defIning optimal device structures and manipulating impurity profIles to obtain optimal control of the carrier flow through the device. This becomes increasingly diffIcult as the device scale becomes smaller and smaller. Since the introduction of...

The application of the Monte Carlo method to the simulation of semiconductor devices is presented. A review of the physics of transport in semiconductors is given, followed by an introduction to the physics of semiconductor devices. The Monte Carlo algorithm is discussed in great details, and specific applications to the modelling of semiconductor devices are given. A comparison with traditional simulators is also presented.

The technological means now exists for approaching the fundamentallimiting scales of solid state electronics in which a single carrier can, in principle, represent a single bit in an information flow. In this light, the prospect of chemically, or biologically, engineered molccular-scale structures which might support information processing functions has enticed workers for many years. The one common factor in all suggested molecular switches, ranging from the experimentally feasible proton-tunneling structure, to natural systems such as the micro-tubule, is that each proposed structure deals...