Electronic Properties of Multilayers and Low-Dimensional Semiconductor Structures


Book Description

This Advanced Study Institute on the Electronic Properties of Multilayers and Low Dimensional Semiconductor Structures focussed on several of the most active areas in modern semiconductor physics. These included resonant tunnelling and superlattice phenomena and the topics of ballistic transport, quantised conductance and anomalous magnetoresistance effects in laterally gated two-dimensional electron systems. Although the main emphasis was on fundamental physics, a series of supporting lectures described the underlying technology (Molecular Beam Epitaxy, Metallo-Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition, Electron Beam Lithography and other advanced processing technologies). Actual and potential applications of low dimensional structures in optoelectronic and high frequency devices were also discussed. The ASI took the form of a series of lectures of about fifty minutes' duration which were given by senior researchers from a wide range of countries. Most of the lectures are recorded in these Proceedings. The younger members of the Institute made the predominant contribution to the discussion sessions following each lecture and, in addition, provided most of the fifty-five papers that were presented in two lively poster sessions. The ASl emphasised the impressive way in which this research field has developed through the fruitful interaction of theory, experiment and semiconductor device technology. Many of the talks demonstrated both the effectiveness and limitations of semiclassical concepts in describing the quantum phenomena exhibited by electrons in low dimensional structures.




Physics of Low-Dimensional Semiconductor Structures


Book Description

Presenting the latest advances in artificial structures, this volume discusses in-depth the structure and electron transport mechanisms of quantum wells, superlattices, quantum wires, and quantum dots. It will serve as an invaluable reference and review for researchers and graduate students in solid-state physics, materials science, and electrical and electronic engineering.




Quantum Transport in Ultrasmall Devices


Book Description

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 integrated circuits, the number of individual transistors on a single chip has doubled approximately every three years. As the number of devices has grown, the critical dimension of the smallest feature, such as a gate length (which is related to the transport length defIning the channel), has consequently declined. The reduction of this design rule proceeds approximately by a factor of 1. 4 each generation, which means we will be using 0. 1-0. 15 ). lm rules for the 4 Gb chips a decade from now. If we continue this extrapolation, current technology will require 30 nm design rules, and a cell 3 2 size




Silicon-on-Insulator Technology: Materials to VLSI


Book Description

Silicon-on-Insulator Technology: Materials to VLSI, Third Edition, retraces the evolution of SOI materials, devices and circuits over a period of roughly twenty years. Twenty years of progress, research and development during which SOI material fabrication techniques have been born and abandoned, devices have been invented and forgotten, but, most importantly, twenty years during which SOI Technology has little by little proven it could outperform bulk silicon in every possible way. The turn of the century turned out to be a milestone for the semiconductor industry, as high-quality SOI wafers suddenly became available in large quantities. From then on, it took only a few years to witness the use of SOI technology in a wealth of applications ranging from audio amplifiers and wristwatches to 64-bit microprocessors. This book presents a complete and state-of-the-art review of SOI materials, devices and circuits. SOI fabrication and characterization techniques, SOI CMOS processing, and the physics of the SOI MOSFET receive an in-depth analysis.




Modern Semiconductor Quantum Physics


Book Description

Modern Semiconductor Quantum Physics has the following constituents: (1) energy band theory: pseudopotential method (empirical and ab initio); density functional theory; quasi-particles; LCAO method; k.p method; spin-orbit splitting; effect mass and Luttinger parameters; strain effects and deformation potentials; temperature effects. (2) Optical properties: absorption and exciton effect; modulation spectroscopy; photo luminescence and photo luminescence excitation; Raman scattering and polaritons; photoionization. (3) Defects and Impurities: effective mass theory and shallow impurity states; deep state cluster method, super cell method, Green's function method; carrier recombination kinetics; trapping transient measurements; electron spin resonance; electron lattice interaction and lattice relaxation effects; multi-phonon nonradiative recombination; negative U center, DX center and EL2 Defects. (4) Semiconductor surfaces: two dimensional periodicity and surface reconstruction; surface electronic states; photo-electron spectroscopy; LEED, STM and other experimental methods. (5) Low-dimensional structures: Heterojunctions, quantum wells; superlattices, quantum-confined Stark effect and Wannier-Stark ladder effects; resonant tunneling, quantum Hall effect, quantum wires and quantum dots.This book can be used as an advanced textbook on semiconductor physics for graduate students in physics and electrical engineering departments. It is also useful as a research reference for solid state scientists and semiconductor device engineers.




Scanning Tunneling Microscopy III


Book Description

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy III provides a unique introduction to the theoretical foundations of scanning tunneling microscopy and related scanning probe methods. The different theoretical concepts developed in the past are outlined, and the implications of the theoretical results for the interpretation of experimental data are discussed in detail. Therefore, this book serves as a most useful guide for experimentalists as well as for theoreticians working in the field of local probe methods. In this second edition the text has been updated and new methods are discussed.




Spin-orbit Coupling Effects in Two-Dimensional Electron and Hole Systems


Book Description

The first part provides a general introduction to the electronic structure of quasi-two-dimensional systems with a particular focus on group-theoretical methods. The main part of the monograph is devoted to spin-orbit coupling phenomena at zero and nonzero magnetic fields. Throughout the book, the main focus is on a thorough discussion of the physical ideas and a detailed interpretation of the results. Accurate numerical calculations are complemented by simple and transparent analytical models that capture the important physics.




Probing Unconventional Transport Regimes in Delafossite Metals


Book Description

This thesis describes in-depth studies of the remarkable electronic transport within the ultrahigh conductivity delafossite metals PtCoO_2 and PdCoO_2 using the tool of focused ion beam (FIB) microstucturing. Despite being first synthesised over 50 years ago, important questions remain regarding both the origin of the unusually high conductivity of these compounds and the consequences of their unique properties for unconventional electronic transport, such as that within the ballistic regime. The thesis explores both these areas. High-energy electron irradiation is used to examine the effects of deliberately introducing point defects into PdCoO_2 and PtCoO_2, demonstrating that the extremely low resistivity of these materials stems from an extreme purity as high as 1 defect in 120,000 atoms, rather than a novel scattering suppression mechanism. In addition, studies of the electronic transport in micron-scale squares of these metals show that their broadly hexagonal Fermi surfaces lead not only to long range ballistic behaviour but novel ballistic regime phenomena which cannot be observed in materials with a higher-symmetry Fermi surface.







Silicon-on-Insulator Technology


Book Description

Silicon-on-Insulator Technology: Materials to VLSI, 2nd Edition describes the different facets of SOI technology. SOI chips are now commercially available and SOI wafer manufacturers have gone public. SOI has finally made it out of the academic world and is now a big concern for every major semiconductor company. SOI technology has indeed deserved serious recognition: high-temperature (400°C), extremely rad-hard (500 Mrad(Si)), high-density (16 Mb, 0.9-volt DRAM), high-speed (several GHz) and low-voltage (0.5 V) SOI circuits have been demonstrated. Strategic choices in favor of the use of SOI for low-voltage, low-power portable systems have been made by several major semiconductor manufacturers. Silicon-on-Insulator Technology: Materials to VLSI, 2nd Edition presents a complete and state-of-the-art review of SOI materials, devices and circuits. SOI fabrication and characterization techniques, SOI device processing, the physics of the SOI MOSFET as well as that of SOI other devices, and the performances of SOI circuits are discussed in detail. The SOI specialist will find this book invaluable as a source of compiled references covering the different aspects of SOI technology. For the non-specialist, the book serves as an excellent introduction to the topic with detailed, yet simple and clear explanations. Silicon-on-Insulator Technology: Materials to VLSI, 2nd Edition is recommended for use as a textbook for classes on semiconductor device processing and physics. The level of the book is appropriate for teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Silicon-on-Insulator Technology: Materials to VLSI, 2nd Edition includes the new materials, devices, and circuit concepts which have been devised since the publication of the first edition. The circuit sections, in particular, have been updated to present the performances of SOI devices for low-voltage, low-power applications, as well as for high-temperature, smart-power, and DRAM applications. The other sections, such as those describing SOI materials, the physics of the SOI MOSFET and other devices have been updated to present the state of the art in SOI technology.