This course is about how charge flows in semiconductors with an emphasis on transport in nanoscale devices. The objective is to develop a broad understanding of basic concepts. The course is designed for those who work on electronic materials and devices – whether they are experimentalists, device physicists, or computational experts. The course is intended to be accessible to students with a general, introductory background in semiconductors. The course consists of three parts. Part 1 reviews advanced semiconductor fundamentals reviewing concepts covered in 453/595 and 606 and addressing new topics such as carrier scattering. Part 2 addresses near-equilibrium transport in the presence of small gradients in the electrochemical potential or temperature, with or without the application of a small magnetic field. Finally, Part 3 examines high-field transport in bulk semiconductors and so-called “non-local” transport in nanoscale devices. Both semiclassical and quantum transport effects are discussed.

The following is an outline of the course.  All course materials are available by selecting "Go to Course" on the right.

• Week 1: Introduction

• Week 2: DOS and intro to scattering

• Week 3: Ionized impurity scattering

• Week 4: Phonon scattering

• Week 5: Scattering wrap up

• Week 6: Intro to Landauer Approach

• Week 7: Near-equilibrium electronic transport

• Week 8: Near-equilibrium thermoelectric transport

• Week 9: Transmission and Phonon Transport

• Week 10: Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE)

• Week 11: The BTE II

• Week 12: Measurements and Characterization

• Week 13: Balance Equation Approach

• Week 14: Monte Carlo and Quantum Transport

• Week 15: High Field and Non-local Transport

• Week 16: Ballistic Transport in Devices