Abstract
The ability to scale device sizes to below a micro-meter has profound implications for electron conduction in semiconductor systems. For conventional circuits, the reduced component size offers the rewards of higher packing densities and faster operating speeds. However, in terms of the search for new classes of electronic devices, designed to replace the transistor as the basic component of electronic circuits, the prospect of current flow across sub-micron distances holds even greater potential. Traditional current flow concepts, in which electron propagation along the device’s length is modeled as a classical diffusion process, can no longer be applied. Both the classical and quantum mechanical transmission characteristics may ultimately be harnessed to produce revolutionary modes of device functionality. Intimately coupled to these objectives of applied physics, sub-micron devices also provide a novel environment for the study of a rich variety of fundamental semiconductor physics.
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Taylor, R. et al. (2003). A Review of Fractal Conductance Fluctuations in Ballistic Semiconductor Devices. In: Bird, J.P. (eds) Electron Transport in Quantum Dots. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0437-5_7
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