Quantum approach to electronic noise calculations in the presence of electron-phonon interactions

Abstract

A quantum-mechanical approach to the calculation of electronic noise for nanoscale devices is presented. This method is based on the nonequilibrium Green's-function formalism with electron-phonon scattering mechanisms and takes the effects of the Pauli exclusion principle and the long-range Coulomb interactions into account. As examples the drain current noise characteristics of silicon nanowire transistors at room temperature are simulated. The drain current noise in the saturation regime is primarily shot-noise dominant but is suppressed for higher gate biases due to the electron-electron correlation in the channel region. The role of electron-phonon interactions on noise, the transition from thermal to shot noise, and the physical origin of the shot-noise phenomenon are also investigated.