Hydrodynamic simulation of a n+ − n − n+ silicon nanowire

Non-equilibrium electron transport in silicon nanowires has been tackled with a hydrodynamic model. This model has been formulated by taking the moments of the multisubband Boltzmann equation, coupled to the Schrödinger–Poisson system. Closure relations are obtained by means of the maximum entropy principle (MEP) of extended thermodynamics, including scattering of electrons with acoustic and nonpolar optical phonons. Simulation results for a quantum n+ − n − n+ silicon diode are shown.