Quantum Transport Modeling of Mesoscopic Devices: Application of Wigner Distribution Function

Abstract

The dynamic and nonlinear quantum transport in mesoscopic devices, especially, in a quantum wire and a quantum well laser are studied based on the Wigner function model. In the simulation of a quantum wire, the contacts to the quantum wire are modeled carefully. It is found that in the nonlinear transport regime, the space charge significantly affects the current-voltage characteristics of the quantum wire. Further, the dynamic responses of the quantum wire are studied when the bias voltage is switched abruptly. In the simulation of a quantum well laser, the bipolar quantum transport is discussed by solving the three Liouville equations for electron, heavy-hole and light-hole simultaneously. The bottleneck phenomenon of carrier injection into the multi-quantum wells is discussed.