Electron-LO-phonon Intrasubband Scattering Rates in a Hollow Cylinder Under the Influence of a Uniform Axial Applied Magnetic Field

Scattering rates arising from the interactions of electrons with bulk longitudinal optical (LO) phonon modes in a hollow cylinder are calculated as functions of the inner radius and the uniform axial applied magnetic field. Now, the specific nature of electron-phonon interactions mainly depends on the character of the energy spectrum of electrons. As is well known, in cylindrical quantum wires, the application of a parallel magnetic field lifts the double degeneracy of the non-zero azimuthal quantum number states; m≠0; irrespective of all electron's radial quantum number l states. In fact, this Zeeman splitting is such that the m < 0 electron's energy subbands initially decrease with the increase of the parallel applied magnetic field. In a solid cylinder, the lowest-order; {l = 1; m = 0} subband is always the ground state. In a hollow cylinder, however, as the axial applied magnetic field is increased, the electron's energy subbands take turns at becoming the ground state; following the sequence {m=0,-1,-2...-N} of azimuthal quantum numbers. Furthermore, in a hollow cylinder, in general, the electron's energy separations between any two subbands are less than the LO phonon energy except for exceptionally high magnetic fields, and some highest-order quantum number states. In view of this, the discussion of the energy relaxation here is focused mainly on intrasubband scattering of electrons and only within the lowest-order {l = 1; m = 0} electron's energy subband. The intrasubband scattering rates are found to be characterized by shallow minima in their variations with the inner radius, again, for a fixed outer radius. This feature is a consequence of a balance between two seemingly conflicting effects of the electron's confinement by the inner and outer walls of the hollow cylinder. First; increased confinement of the charge carriers generally leads to the enhancement of the rates. Second; the presence of a hole in a hollow cylinder leads to a significant suppression of the scattering rates. The intrasubband scattering rates also show a somewhat parabolic increase in their variations with the applied magnetic field; an increase which is more pronounced in a relatively thick hollow cylinder.

Charging Model of a Si Nanocrystal-based Floating Gate in a Quantum Flash Memory

We propose a theoretical study for charging the floating gate composed of Si nanocrystals (NCs), in a non-volatile flash memory. Only a few electrons tunnel from the channel of a metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor into the two-dimensional array of nanocrystals.Our model is based on the geometrical and physical properties of the device, in order to take the dispersion of the relevant parameters into account: NC radii, inter-NC distances, tunnel oxide and gate oxide thicknesses. The energy subbands of the channel are explicitly included, together with the doping density.This three-dimensional model of electron tunneling into a NC is numerically solved through a two-dimensional finite element approach, which allows extensive numerical experimentations.The tunneling times to charge a single NC or the whole NC floating gate are evaluated in a finer detail, and the influence of the dispersion of the relevant parameters is discussed.Such a study may help the experimentalists to build efficient quantum flash memories.

Raman and Ellipsometric Studies of Delta-Doped GaAs

ABSTRACTGaAs (100) samples with multiple δ-doped layers (N2D=∼2×1013/cm2) were studied by Raman scattering (RS) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). A quasithree- dimensional (3D) plasmon-phonon coupled mode (L+), probed at λ= 514.5 nm, from a 9-layer δ-doped GaAs with layer-spacing of 100 Å, was observed at ∼895 cm−1. At similar frequency, a plasmon mode was also detected from another GaAs sample with the same δ-doping periods but doubled layer-spacing (200 Å). This provides evidence of spatial quantization of the electron distributions in δ-doped GaAs. The equivalent 3D electron concentration, estimated from the Raman plasmon mode, is ∼1.1×1019/cm3. The presence of the 3D plasmon mode from a quasi-two-dimensional (2D) electron gas is possibly contributed by the electrons in the high energy subbands in the V-shaped potential well of the δ-doped GaAs. The pseudodielectric function <ε>= <ε1>+i<ε2> of this δ-doped GaAs sample was measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), from an unoxidized surface in an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) chamber, in the range of 1.5 to 5.0 eV. Compared with uniformly doped GaAs, our SE data indicates a reduced broadening of the optical transitions between the E1 and E1+Δ1, energies due to the δ-doping.