Wigner-function formalism applied to semiconductor quantum devices: Failure of the conventional boundary-condition scheme
Abstract
The Wigner-function formalism is a well known approach to model charge transport in semiconductor nanodevices. Primary goal of the present article is to point out and explain intrinsic limitations of the conventional quantum-device modeling based on such Wigner-function paradigm, providing a definite answer to open questions related to the application of the conventional spatial boundary-condition scheme to the Wigner transport equation. Our analysis shows that (i) in the absence of energy dissipation (coherent limit) the solution of the Wigner equation equipped with given boundary conditions is not unique, and (ii) when decoherence/dissipation phenomena are taken into account via a relaxation-time approximation the solution, although unique, is not necessarily a physical Wigner function.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1302.2750,
title = {Wigner-function formalism applied to semiconductor quantum devices: Failure of the conventional boundary-condition scheme},
author = {Roberto Rosati and Fabrizio Dolcini and Rita Claudia Iotti and Fausto Rossi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1302.2750},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
18 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. B