1 credit
Fall 2025 Lecture Distance Learning Departmental CreditUpper Division
Traditional description of electronic motion through a solid is based on diffusive transport which means that the electron takes a random walk from the source to the drain. However, modern nanoelectronic devices often have channel lengths comparable to a mean free path so that electrons travel ballistically, or "like a bullet." This course provides a unified conceptual framework for ballistic and diffusive transport of both electrons and phonons, that is very different from what is taught in standard courses, but indispensable to understanding nanolectronic devices.
Learning Outcomes1Explain the new perspective on conductivity and its relation to the standard Drude formula.
2Evaluate quantities like the density of states, number of modes, electron density and conductivity for a given energy-momentum relation.
3Explain concepts like the minimum interface resistance and the two Landauer formulas.
Restrictions
made by Purdue students.