Near-Equilibrium Transport: Fundamentals and Applications
Category
Published on
Abstract
Engineers and scientists working on electronic materials and devices need a working knowledge of "near-equilibrium" (also called "linear" or "low-field") transport. The term "working knowledge" means understanding how to use theory in practice. Measurements of resistivity, conductivity, mobility, thermoelectric parameters as well as Hall effect measurements are commonly used to characterize electronic materials. Thermoelectric effects are the basis for important devices, and devices like transistors, which operate far from equilibrium, invariably contain low-eld regions (e.g. the source and drain) that can limit device performance. These lectures are an introduction to near-equilibrium carrier transport using a novel, bottom up approach as developed by my colleague, Supriyo Datta. This approach is more rigorous than the Drude approach - and often more physically insightful and less mathematically involved than approaches based on the Boltzmann Transport Equation. It also works for nanoscale as well as for micro and macroscale devices. Using this approach, these lectures will introduce the essential principles of near-equilibrium transport theory needed by scientists and engineers working on electronic materials and devices.
These lectures complement a set of lectures notes published by World Scientific, "Near-Equilibrium Transport: Fundamentals and Applications" which is part of the "Lessons from Nanoscience: A Lecture Note Series."
Sponsored by
"Electronics from the Bottom Up" is an educational initiative designed to bring a new perspective to the field of nano device engineering. It is co-sponsored by the Intel Foundation and the Network for Computational Nanotechnology.
Cite this work
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Location
Burton Morgan 121, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Tags
Lecture Number/Topic | Online Lecture | Video | Lecture Notes | Supplemental Material | Suggested Exercises |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lecture 1: Introduction to Near-equilibrium Transport | View HTML View Flash |
View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
A short overview of the topics to be discussed in the following nine
lectures in this short course on near-equilibrium transport. |
|||||
Lecture 2: General Model for Transport | View HTML View Flash |
View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
Datta's model of a nanodevice is introduced as a general way of describing nanodevices as well, as bulk metals and semiconductors. |
|||||
Lecture 3: Resistance-Ballistic to Diffusive | View HTML View Flash |
View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
The resistance of a ballistic conductor and concepts, such as the quantum
contact resistance, are introduced and discussed. The results are then
generalized to treat transport all the way from... |
|||||
Lecture 4: Thermoelectric Effects-Physical Approach | View HTML View Flash |
View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
The effect of temperature gradients on current flow and how electrical currents produce heat currents are discussed. |
|||||
Lecture 5: Thermoelectric Effects - Mathematics | View HTML View Flash |
View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
Beginning with the general model for transport, we mathematically derive
expressions for the four thermoelectric transport coefficients:
(i) Electrical conductivity,
(ii) Seebeck coefficient (or... |
|||||
Lecture 6: An Introduction to Scattering | View Flash | View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
In this lecture, we show how the mean-free-path (mfp) is related to the
time between scattering events and briefly discuss how the scattering
time is related to underlying physical processes. |
|||||
Lecture 7: The Boltzmann Transport Equation | View Flash | View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
Semi-classical carrier transport is traditionally described by the
Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE). In this lecture, we present the
BTE, show how it is solved, and relate it to the Landauer... |
|||||
Lecture 8: Measurements | View Flash | View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
A brief introduction to commonly-used techniques, such as van der Pauw and Hall effect measurements. |
|||||
Lecture 9: Introduction to Phonon Transport | View Flash | View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
This lecture is an introduction to phonon transport. Key similarities and differences between electron and phonon transport are discussed. |
|||||
Lecture 10: Case study-Near-equilibrium Transport in Graphene | View Flash | View | Notes (pdf) | YouTube |
|
Near-equilibrium transport in graphene as an example of how to apply the concepts in lectures 1-8. |