First-principles investigations of electron scattering at surfaces and grain boundaries in nanoscale metallic conductors

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Authors
Zhou, Tianji
Issue Date
2018-08
Type
Electronic thesis
Thesis
Language
ENG
Keywords
Materials engineering
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Alternative Title
Abstract
Surface roughness effects are analytically and computationally investigated by modeling electron reflection at discrete step edges. A Landauer formalism for incoherent scattering leads to a parameter-free expression for the resistivity contribution from surface mound-valley undulations that is additive to the resistivity associated with bulk and surface scattering. In the classical limit where the electron reflection probability matches the ratio of the step height h divided by the film thickness d, the additional resistivity Δρ = /(g0d)×ω/ξ , where g0 is the specific ballistic conductance and ω/ξ is the ratio of the root-mean-square surface roughness divided by the lateral correlation length of the surface morphology.
Description
August 2018
School of Engineering
Full Citation
Publisher
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Terms of Use
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
EISSN