Book Description

In this dissertation electronic transport in nanoscale structures is discussed. An expression for the shot noise, a fluctuation in current due to the discreteness of charge, is derived directly from the wave functions of a nanoscale system. Investigation of shot noise is of particular interest due to the rich fundamental physics involved. For example, the study of shot noise can provide fundamental insight on the nature of electron transport in a nanoscale junction. We report calculations of the shot noise properties of parallel wires in the regime in which the interwire distance is much smaller than the inelastic mean free path. The validity of quantized transverse momenta in a nanoscale structure and its effect on shot noise is also discussed. We theoretically propose and show the feasibility of a novel protocol for DNA sequencing based on the electronic signature of single-stranded DNA while it translocates through a nanopore. We find that the currents for the bases are sufficiently different to allow for efficient sequencing. Our estimates reveal that sequencing of an entire human genome could be done with very high accuracy in a matter of hours, e.g., orders of magnitude faster than present techniques. We also find that although the overall magnitude of the current may change dramatically with different detection conditions, the intrinsic distinguishability of the bases is not significantly affected by pore size and transverse field strength. Finally, we study the ability of water to screen charges in nanopores by using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations coupled to electrostatic calculations. Due to the short length scales of the nanopore geometry and the large local field gradient of a single ion, the energetics of transporting an ion through the pore is strongly dependent on the microscopic details of the electric field. We show that as long as the pore allows the first hydration shell to stay intact, e.g., ~6 nearby water molecules, the electric field of the ion can be well screened. We also discuss the consequences of the formation of hydration layers and of the discrete nature of polarization at atomic length scales for the applicability of continuum dielectric models.