Phonon engineering in nano-devices and virus-based nano-templates (Invited Paper)

Abstract

Phonons, i.e. quanta of lattice vibrations, manifest themselves practically in all electrical, thermal, optical and noise phenomena in semiconductors and other material systems. Reduction of the size of electronic devices below the acoustic phonon mean free path creates a new situation for the phonons propagation and interaction. From one side, it may complicate heat removal from the downscaled devices. From the other side, it opens up an exciting opportunity for re-engineering phonon spectrum in nanostructured materials, and achieving enhanced operation of nano-devices. Since phonon-assisted tunneling and carrier scattering on phonons affect the charge carrier transport, modification of the phonon spectrum is also expected to influence noise level in nano-devices. This paper reviews the development of the phonon-engineering concept and discusses its device applications. The focus of this review is on tuning the phonon spectrum in acoustically mismatched nano- and heterostructures in order to change the ability of semiconductors to conduct heat and electric current. New approaches for the electron-phonon scattering rates suppression and the carrier mobility enhancement are also discussed. The last section of this review describes our recent results on phonons in the rod-shaped viruses used as biological nano-templates for self-assembly of nanoelectronic circuits.