Surface Electronic Transport Phenomena In Semiconductors

Layered metal-insulator-semiconductor microstructures have become an important research area in semiconductor microelectronics. New devices utilize phenomena occuring at or near the semiconductor surface directly. This monograph provides a survey of the diverse experimental and theoretical results for electron and hole transport in surface and subsurface regions of semiconductors, with an emphasis on the mechanisms involved and special measurement procedures necessary, for example in Hall current measurements. This English edition has been substantially revised and updated from the original Russian edition.

This introduction to the physics of semiconductor nanostructures and their transport properties emphasizes five fundamental transport phenomena: quantized conductance, tunnelling transport, the Aharonov-Bohm effect, the quantum Hall effect and the Coulomb blockade effect.

This is a classic text of its time in condensed matter physics.

This book contains the first systematic and detailed exposition of the linear theory of the stationary electron transport phenomena in semiconductors. Arbitrary isotropic and anisotropic nonparabolic bands as well as p-Ge-type bands are considered. Phonon drag effect are taken account of in an arbitrary nonquantizing magnetic field. Scattering theory is discussed in detail with account taken of the Bloch wave functions effect. Transport phenomena in the quantizing magnetic field are studied as well as the size effects in thin films. Band structures of the semiconductors and semiconductor compounds of interest are also considered.The main part of the book deals with the three important problems: charge carrier statistics in a semiconductor, classical and quantum theory of the electron transport phenomena. All the theoretical results considered as well as the validity conditions are presented in the form which may be directly used to interpret experimental data.

In recent years, the physics community has experienced a revival of interest in spin effects in solid state systems. On one hand, the solid state systems, particularly, semiconductors and semiconductor nanosystems, allow us to perform benchtop studies of quantum and relativistic phenomena. On the other hand, this interest is supported by the prospects of realizing spin-based electronics, where the electron or nuclear spins may play a role of quantum or classical information carriers. This book looks in detail at the physics of interacting systems of electron and nuclear spins in semiconductors, with particular emphasis on low-dimensional structures. These two spin systems naturally appear in practically all widespread semiconductor compounds. The hyperfine interaction of the charge carriers and nuclear spins is particularly prominent in nanosystems due to the localization of the charge carriers, and gives rise to spin exchange between these two systems and a whole range of beautiful and complex physics of manybody and nonlinear systems. As a result, understanding of the intertwined spin systems of electrons and nuclei is crucial for in-depth studying and controlling the spin phenomena in semiconductors. The book addresses a number of the most prominent effects taking place in semiconductor nanosystems including hyperfine interaction, nuclear magnetic resonance, dynamical nuclear polarization, spin-Faraday and spin-Kerr effects, processes of electron spin decoherence and relaxation, effects of electron spin precession mode-locking and frequency focussing, as well as fluctuations of electron and nuclear spins.

This book takes the reader from the very basics of III-V semiconductors (some preparation in quantum mechanics and electromagnetism is helpful) and shows how seemingly obscure results such as detailed forms of the Hamiltonian, optical transition strengths, and recombination mechanisms follow.

Recently, a new branch of physics and nanotechnology called spin electronics has emerged, which aims at simultaneously exploiting the charge and spin of electrons in the same device. The aim of this book is to present new directions in the development of spin electronics in both the basic physics and the technology which will become the foundation of future electronics.

The study of electrons and holes confined to two, one and even zero dimensions has uncovered a rich variety of new physics and applications. This book describes the interaction between these confined carriers and the optic and acoustic phonons within and around the confined regions. Phonons provide the principal channel of energy transfer between the carriers and their surroundings and also the main restriction to their room temperature mobility. But they have many other roles; they provide for example an essential feature of the operation of the quantum cascade laser. Since their moment at the relevant energies are well matched to those of electrons, they can also be used to probe electronic properties such as the confinement width of 2D electron gases and the dispersion curve of quasiparticles in the fractional quantum Hall effect. The book describes both the physics of the electron-phonon interaction in the different confined systems and the experimental and theoretical techniques that have been used in its investigation. The experimental methods include optical and transport techniques as well techniques in which phonons are used as the experimental probe. The aim of the book is to provide an up-to-date review of the physics and its significance in device performance. It is also written to be explanatory and accessible to graduate students and others new to the field.