A simplified quantum mechanical model for the electron distribution in a Si nanowire

Abstract

In order to investigate the technological potential ascribed to semiconductor nanowires, it is paramount to include quantum effects into the models used to simulate carrier transport as well as optical and excitonic features of various nanowire layouts. In particular, one needs to determine the energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the charge carriers in terms of material parameters and tunable parameters, such as the external voltages and the wire radius. As the latter may be running from a few nanometers up to a few tens of nanometers, the number of occupied subbands may substantially increase. Consequently, a flexible Poisson-Schrödinger solver needs to be invoked to minimize the computational burden, especially when it is to be integrated into another simulation program.