Nanostructures - physics and transport

Courses

First we give a brief review of the electronic properties which control the behaviour of a bulk semiconductor. We put forward the modifications brought to a number of quantities by a reduction in device dimension: energy levels, density of states, effective mass approximation, radiative lifetime, etc.

Then we focus on the specific properties which affect electronic transport in nanostructures:

• Ballistic transport and phase coherence.
• Point contact resistance; waveguide analogy.
• Landauer-Büttiker formalism.
• Coulomb blockade effect.
• Weak localisation.
  

Each of these aspects will be illustrated through practical examples and exercises.

Exercises and Laboratories

None

Teaching type
lecture

Related courses
Necessary conditions : Semiconductors Physics
Preparation for : Nanoelectronics

• C.W.J.Beenaker and H.van Houten, Quantum transport in semiconductor nanostructures, Solid State Physics 44 (Academic Press 1991)
• J.H.Davies, The physics of low-dimensional semiconductors (Cambridge University Press 1998)
• S.Datta, Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems (Cambridge University press 1995)
• D.K.Ferry and S.M.Goodnick, Transport in nanostructures (Cambridge university press 1997)
• C.Cohen-Tannoudji, B.Diu and F.Laloë, Quantum mechanics, Wiley and Hermann, Paris (1977)
• N.W.Ashcroft and N.D.Mermin, Solid State Physics (Wiley, New York 1976)
• B.K.Ridley, Quantum processes in semiconductors (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1982)