Publication
Title
Phonon-assisted Zener tunneling in a p-n diode silicon nanowire
Author
Abstract
The Zener tunneling current flowing through a biased, abrupt p-n junction embedded in a cylindrical silicon nanowire is calculated. As the band gap becomes indirect for sufficiently thick wires, Zener tunneling and its related transitions between the valence and conduction bands are mediated by short-wavelength phonons interacting with mobile electrons. Therefore, not only the high electric field governing the electrons in the space-charge region but also the transverse acoustic (TA) and transverse optical (TO) phonons have to be incorporated in the expression for the tunneling current. The latter is also affected by carrier confinement in the radial direction and therefore we have solved the Schrodinger and Poisson equations self-consistently within the effective mass approximation for both conduction and valence band electrons. We predict that the tunneling current exhibits a pronounced dependence on the wire radius, particularly in the high-bias regime. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Solid state electronics. - Oxford
Publication
Oxford : 2013
ISSN
0038-1101
DOI
10.1016/J.SSE.2012.09.004
Volume/pages
79 (2013) , p. 196-200
ISI
000313611000037
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
CalcUA as central calculation facility: supporting core facilities.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 20.09.2013
Last edited 22.01.2024
To cite this reference