EE 727 – PHYSICS OF NANOELECTRONIC DEVICES II

Academic Year : Spring 2016

Instructor: Bhaskaran Muralidharan

Motivation: This course covers a lot of basic concepts that are routinely employed in Quantum Devices. Also it gives a deep understanding of Quantum Transport and Mesoscopic physics.

Course content:

Part I: Basics

I(a) Introducing microscopic theory

(i) Drude Model: The free electron gas

(ii) Sommerfeld model

(iii) Chemical Bonds to Bands : the whys of it…

(iv) Nearly free-electron gas, Bloch theorem, periodic potential

I(b) More into Microscopics

(i) One dimensional models electrons and crystal structure

(ii) Band structure and band structure engineering

(iii) Beyond independent electrons – Primer to Hartree Fock theory

(iv) Conductance and transport coefficients-Boltzmann transport

Part II: Nanostructures

(i) Quantum transport in nanodevices – Landauer-Buettiker formalism

(ii) Applications to Quantum devices- Mesoscopic physics.

Structure:

Quizzes - 30 %

Assignments - 20 %

Endsemester exam - 50 %

There was no midsem because the professor was not available during that week or two.

Prerequisites:

There are no pre requisites for taking the course . But having a background in Device Physics (EE 207) is necessary. Also basic set of mathematical skills are required. You can manage without having done the course Physics of Nanoelectronic Devices , but that course would give you a better insight into this course.

Feedback on Lectures:

Classes are insightful but sometimes get tough to understand. Everything covered in the class was from the prescribed textbooks. A few concepts in the textbook were bit difficult to understand. Attending lectures would help in understanding the concepts better .

Feedback on Exams:

The exams were mostly based on concepts and if you have a thorough understanding of the physics behind , then the exam would not seem difficult . If not then it would be very difficult to score in the exams. Assignments were very important as the concepts used in them were repeated in the exam.

Grading:

The grading seemed as if they were based on cutoffs. But the professor is generally lenient about grading and gave only a few lower grades. Please have a look on ASC for the same.

Attendance:

The professor required a minimum attendance if not then he would give DX. Also not attending implies slight difficulty in understanding the concepts.

Textbooks:

Solid State Physics by Ashcroft and Mermin.

Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems by Supriyo Dutta.

Quantum Transport-Atom to transistor by Supriyo Dutta.

Future direction:

More advanced courses like EE 724 - Nanoelectronics and research in this field !

Reviewed by:

Abhin Shah ( abhinshah02@gmail.com )