Quantum wire splitting in nanostructures

The electron transport processes in novel semiconductor nanostructures are mainly influenced by quantum mechanical effects. Especially in heterostructures the effect of energy quantisation appears at the heterojunctions. This can be considered in device simulation by solving the Schrodinger equation in connection with the Poisson equation. In nanostructures the appearance of 1-dimensional or 2-dimensional electron gases is used for devices as current channels with a high electron mobility. The first systematic investigation of quantum wire structures is carried out to find the conditions for the creation of a real I-dimensional electron gas as well as for the splitting of it into several electron gases at enlarged structure dimensions. A coupled microscopic/macroscopic algorithm is applied to simulate several nanometre quantum wire structures. The electron density in the quantum wire is calculated and compared for different shapes of the wire structure and for different material compounds and material dopings. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.