No Arabic abstract
Nonlinear charge transport in strongly coupled semiconductor superlattices is described by Wigner-Poisson kinetic equations involving one or two minibands. Electron-electron collisions are treated within the Hartree approximation whereas other inelastic collisions are described by a modified BGK (Bhatnaghar-Gross-Krook) model. The hyperbolic limit is such that the collision frequencies are of the same order as the Bloch frequencies due to the electric field and the corresponding terms in the kinetic equation are dominant. In this limit, spatially nonlocal drift-diffusion balance equations for the miniband populations and the electric field are derived by means of the Chapman-Enskog perturbation technique. For a lateral superlattice with spin-orbit interaction, electrons with spin up or down have different energies and their corresponding drift-diffusion equations can be used to calculate spin-polarized currents and electron spin polarization. Numerical solutions show stable self-sustained oscillations of the current and the spin polarization through a voltage biased lateral superlattice thereby providing an example of superlattice spin oscillator.
We derive the system of hydrodynamic equations governing the collective motion of massless fermions in graphene. The obtained equations demonstrate the lack of Galilean- and Lorentz invariance, and contain a variety of nonlinear terms due to quasi-relativistic nature of carriers. Using those equations, we show the possibility of soliton formation in electron plasma of gated graphene. The quasi-relativistic effects set an upper limit for soliton amplitude, which marks graphene out of conventional semiconductors. The lack of Galilean and Lorentz invariance of hydrodynamic equations is revealed in spectra of plasma waves in the presence of steady flow, which no longer obey the relations of Doppler shift. The possibility of plasma wave excitation by direct current in graphene channels is also discussed.
Weakly coupled semiconductor superlattices under dc voltage bias are excitable systems with many degrees of freedom that may exhibit spontaneous chaos at room temperature and act as fast physical random number generator devices. Superlattices with identical periods exhibit current self-oscillations due to the dynamics of charge dipole waves but chaotic oscillations exist on narrow voltage intervals. They disappear easily due to variation in structural growth parameters. Based on numerical simulations, we predict that inserting two identical sufficiently separated wider wells increases superlattice excitability by allowing wave nucleation at the modified wells and more complex dynamics. This system exhibits hyperchaos and varieties of intermittent chaos in extended dc voltage ranges. Unlike in ideal superlattices, our chaotic attractors are robust and resilient against noises and against controlled random disorder due to growth fluctuations.
Measurements and modeling of electron spin transport and dynamics are used to characterize hyperfine interactions in Fe/GaAs devices with $n$-GaAs channels. Ga and As nuclei are polarized by electrically injected electron spins, and the nuclear polarization is detected indirectly through the depolarization of electron spins in the hyperfine field. The dependence of the electron spin signal on injector bias and applied field direction is modeled by a coupled drift-diffusion equation, including effective fields from both the electronic and nuclear polarizations. This approach is used to determine the electron spin polarization independently of the assumptions made in standard transport measurements. The extreme sensitivity of the electron spin dynamics to the nuclear spin polarization also facilitates the electrical detection of nuclear magnetic resonance.
Charge and thermal conductivities are the most important parameters of carbon nanomaterials as candidates for future electronics. In this paper we address the effects of Anderson type disorder in long semiconductor carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to electron charge conductivity and lattice thermal conductivity using the atomistic Green function approach. The electron and phonon transmissions are analyzed as a function of the length of the disordered nanostructures. The thermal conductance as a function of temperature is calculated for different lengths. Analysis of the transmission probabilities as a function of length of the disordered device shows that both electrons and phonons with different energies display different transport regimes, i.e. quasi-ballistic, diffusive and localization regimes coexist. In the light of the results we discuss heating of the semiconductor device in electronic applications.
Using the tight-binding model and the generalized Greens function formalism, the effect of quantum interference on the electron transport through the benzene molecule in a semiconductor/benzene/semiconductor junction is numerically investigated. We show how the quantum interference sources, different contact positions and local gate, can control the transmission characteristics of the electrode/molecule/electrode junction. We also study the occurrence of anti-resonant states in the transmission probability function using a simple graphical scheme (introduced in Ref.[Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 2011, 13, 1431]) for different geometries of the contacts between the benzene molecule and semiconductor(silicon and titanium dioxide) electrodes.