The Physics Of Submicron Structures

Research on electronic transport in ultra small dimensions has been highly stimulated by the sensational developments in silicon technology and very large scale integration. The papers in this volume, however, have been influenced to no lesser extent by the advent of molecular beam epitaxy and metal/organic chemical vapor deposition which has made possible the control of semiconductor boundaries on a quantum level. This new control of boundary condi tions in ultra small electronic research is the mathematical reason for a whole set of innovative ideas. For the first time in the history of semiconductors, it is possible to design device functions from physical considerations involving ~ngstom scale dimensions. At the time the meeting was held, July 1982, it was one of the first strong signals of the powerful developments in this area. During the meeting, important questions have been answered concerning ballistic transport, Monte Carlo simulations of high field transport and other developments pertinent to new device concepts and the understanding of small devices from physics to function. The committee members want to express their deep appreciation to the speakers who have made the meeting a success. The USER pro ject of DOD has been a vital stimulous and thanks go to the Army Research Office and the Office of Naval Research for financial sup port. Urbana, January 1984 K. Hess, Conference Chairman J. R. Brews L. R. Cooper, Ex Officio D. K. Ferry H. L. Grubin G. J. Iafrate M. I. Nathan A. F.

The papers contained in the volume represent lectures delivered as a 1983 NATO ASI, held at Urbino, Italy. The lecture series was designed to identify the key submicron and ultrasubmicron device physics, transport, materials and contact issues. Nonequilibrium transport, quantum transport, interfacial and size constraints issues were also highlighted. The ASI was supported by NATO and the European Research Office. H. L. Grubin D. K. Ferry C. Jacoboni v CONTENTS MODELLING OF SUB-MICRON DEVICES.................. .......... 1 E. Constant BOLTZMANN TRANSPORT EQUATION... ... ...... .................... 33 K. Hess TRANSPORT AND MATERIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR SUBMICRON DEVICES. . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . .. . .... ... .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 45 H. L. Grubin EPITAXIAL GROWTH FOR SUB MICRON STRUCTURES.................. 179 C. E. C. Wood INSULATOR/SEMICONDUCTOR INTERFACES.......................... 195 C. W. Wilms en THEORY OF THE ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OF SEMICONDUCTOR SURFACES AND INTERFACES......................................... 223 C. Calandra DEEP LEVELS AT COMPOUND-SEMICONDUCTOR INTERFACES........... 253 W. Monch ENSEMBLE MONTE CARLO TECHNIqUES............................. 289 C. Jacoboni NOISE AND DIFFUSION IN SUBMICRON STRUCTURES................. 323 L. Reggiani SUPERLATTICES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 . . . . . . . . . . . . K. Hess SUBMICRON LITHOGRAPHY 373 C. D. W. Wilkinson and S. P. Beaumont QUANTUM EFFECTS IN DEVICE STRUCTURES DUE TO SUBMICRON CONFINEMENT IN ONE DIMENSION.... ....................... 401 B. D. McCombe vii viii CONTENTS PHYSICS OF HETEROSTRUCTURES AND HETEROSTRUCTURE DEVICES..... 445 P. J. Price CORRELATION EFFECTS IN SHORT TIME, NONS TAT I ONARY TRANSPORT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 . . . . . . . . . . . . J. J. Niez DEVICE-DEVICE INTERACTIONS............ ...................... 503 D. K. Ferry QUANTUM TRANSPORT AND THE WIGNER FUNCTION................... 521 G. J. Iafrate FAR INFRARED MEASUREMENTS OF VELOCITY OVERSHOOT AND HOT ELECTRON DYNAMICS IN SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES............. 577 S. J. Allen, Jr.

This volume presents a discussion of the latest results in the physics of low-dimensional structures. At the winter school major breakthroughs were reported, and some of the excitement of the participants is reflected in the contributions. The topics treated range from the fabrication of microstructures and the physical background of future semiconductor devices to vertical transport in nanostructures, universal conductance fluctuations, and the transition from two-dimensional to one-dimensional conduction in semiconductor structures.

This book is devoted to the physics of electron-beam, ion-beam, optical, and x-ray lithography. The need for this book results from the following considerations. The astonishing achievements in microelectronics are in large part connected with successfully applying the relatively new technology of processing (changing the prop erties of) a material into a device whose component dimensions are submicron, called photolithography. In this method the device is imaged as a pattern on a metal film that has been deposited onto a transparent substrate and by means of a broad stream of light is transferred to a semiconductor wafer within which the physical structure of the devices and the integrated circuit connections are formed layer by layer. The smallest dimensions of the device components are limited by the diffraction of the light when the pattern is transferred and are approximately the same as the wavelength of the light. Photolithography by light having a wavelength of A ~ 0.4 flm has made it possible to serially produce integrated circuits having devices whose minimal size is 2-3 flm in the 4 pattern and having 10-105 transistors per circuit.

Techniques for the preparation of condensed matter systems have advanced considerably in the last decade, principally due to the developments in microfabrication technologies. The widespread availability of millikelvin temperature facilities also led to the discovery of a large number of new quantum phenomena. Simultaneously, the quantum theory of small condensed matter systems has matured, allowing quantitative predictions. The effects discussed in Quantum Dynamics of Submicron Structures include typical quantum interference phenomena, such as the Aharonov-Bohm-like oscillations of the magnetoresistance of thin metallic cylinders and rings, transport through chaotic billiards, and such quantization effects as the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect and the quantization of the conductance of point contacts in integer multiples of the `conductance quantum'. Transport properties and tunnelling processes in various types of normal metal and superconductor tunnelling systems are treated. The statistical properties of the quantum states of electrons in spatially inhomogeneous systems, such as a random, inhomogeneous magnetic field, are investigated. Interacting systems, like the Luttinger liquid or electrons in a quantum dot, are also considered. Reviews are given of quantum blockade mechanisms for electrons that tunnel through small junctions, like the Coulomb blockade and spin blockade, the influence of dissipative coupling of charge carriers to an environment, and Andreev scattering. Coulomb interactions and quantization effects in transport through quantum dots and in double-well potentials, as well as quantum effects in the motion of vortices, as in the Aharonov-Casher effect, are discussed. The status of the theory of the metal-insulator and superconductor-insulator phase transitions in ordered and disordered granular systems are reviewed as examples in which such quantum effects are of great importance.

The purposes of this book are many. First, we must point out that it is not a device book, as a proper treatment of the range of important devices would require a much larger volume even without treating the important physics for submicron devices. Rather, the book is written principally to pull together and present in a single place, and in a (hopefully) uniform treatment, much of the understanding on relevant physics for submicron devices. Indeed, the understand ing that we are trying to convey through this work has existed in the literature for quite some time, but has not been brought to the full attention of those whose business is the making of submicron devices. It should be remarked that much of the important physics that is discussed here may not be found readily in devices at the 1.0-JLm level, but will be found to be dominant at the O.I-JLm level. The range between these two is rapidly being covered as technology moves from the 256K RAM to the 16M RAM chips.

The articles in this book have been selected from the lectures of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held at Bad Lauterberg (Germany) in August 1995. Internationally well-known researchers in the field of mesoscopic quantum physics provide insight into the fundamental physics underlying the mesoscopic transport phenomena in structured semiconductor inversion layers. In addition, some of the most recent achievements are reported in contributed papers. The aim of the volume is not to give an overview over the field. Instead, emphasis is on interaction and correlation phenomena that turn out to be of increasing importance for the understanding of the phenomena in the quantum Hall regime, and in the transport through quantum dots. The present status of the quantum Hall experiments and theory is reviewed. As a "key example" for non-Fermi liquid behavior the Luttinger liquid is introduced, including some of the most recent developments. It is not only of importance for the fractional quantum Hall effect, but also for the understanding of transport in quantum wires. Furthermore, the chaotic and the correlation aspects of the transport in quantum dot systems are described. The status of the experimental work in the area of persistent currents in semiconductor systems is outlined. The construction of one of the first single-electron transistors is reported. The theoretical approach to mesoscopic transport, presently a most active area, is treated, and some aspects of time-dependent transport phenomena are also discussed.