arXiv · cond-mat/0412278
On the Validity of the Parabolic Effective-Mass Approximation for the Current-Voltage Calculation of Silicon Nanowire Transistors
Abstract
This paper examines the validity of the widely-used parabolic effective-mass approximation for computing the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of silicon nanowire transistors (SNWTs). The energy dispersion relations for unrelaxed Si nanowires are first computed by using an sp3d5s* tight-binding model. A semi-numerical ballistic FET model is then adopted to evaluate the I-V characteristics of the (n-type) SNWTs based on both a tight-binding dispersion relation and parabolic energy bands. In comparison with the tight-binding approach, the parabolic effective-mass model with bulk effective-masses significantly overestimates SNWT threshold voltages when the wire width is <3nm, and ON-currents when the wire width is <5nm. By introducing two analytical equations with two tuning parameters, however, the effective-mass approximation can well reproduce the tight-binding I-V results even at a \~1.36nm wire with.
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Jing Wang, Anisur Rahman, Avik Ghosh, Gerhard Klimeck, Mark Lundstrom. 2004-12-10. On the Validity of the Parabolic Effective-Mass Approximation for the Current-Voltage Calculation of Silicon Nanowire Transistors. https://doi.org/10.1109/ted.2005.850945
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