Introduction of multi-particle Büttiker probes - Bridging the gap between drift diffusion and quantum transport

Abstract

State-of-the-art industrial semiconductor device modeling is based on highly efficient Drift-Diffusion (DD) models that include some quantum corrections for nanodevices. In contrast, latest academic quantum transport models are based on the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method that covers all coherent and incoherent quantum effects consistently. Carrier recombination and generation in optoelectronic nanodevices represent an immense numerical challenge when solved within NEGF. In this work, the numerically efficient Büttiker-probe model is expanded to include electron-hole recombination and generation in the NEGF framework. Benchmarks of the new multiple-particle Büttiker probe method against state-of-the-art quantum-corrected DD models show quantitative agreements except in cases of pronounced tunneling and interference effects.