Electron Transport in a Model Si Transistor

A model transistor is de ned and used to understand steady-state electron transport in nanoscale silicon transistors. For this model device, the electric eld pro le is xed and not computed self-consistently from the carrier density pro le. The current versus voltage (I-V) characteristics of the model device as well as the internal carrier density and velocity pro les are computed by solving the Boltzmann Transport Equation. We nd that the I-V characteristics of the model transistor can be explained by simple, physical arguments, even when the critical regions are on the order of a meanfree-path and strong o -equilibrium transport occurs. This analysis provides insight into the current-limiting mechanisms of a nano-scale transistor. It also provides a basis for testing some commonly-used transport models and shows that many of them are seriously unphysical at nanoscale dimensions.