Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The miniaturization of electronic devices has led to the prominence, in technological applications, of semiconductor thin films that are only a few nanometers thick. In spite of intense research, the thickness-dependent resistivity or conductivity of semiconductor thin films is not understood at a fundamental physical level. We develop a theory based on quantum confinement which yields the dependence of the concentration of intrinsic carriers on the film thickness. The theory predicts that the resistivity ρ , in the 1–10 nm thickness range, increases exponentially as ρ ∼ exp ( const / L 1 / 2 ) upon decreasing the film thickness L . This law is able to reproduce the remarkable increase in resistivity observed experimentally in Si thin films, whereas the effect of surface scattering (Fuchs-Sondheimer theory) alone cannot explain the data when the film thickness is lower than 10 nm.
Source: Physical Review Materials
Author: Alessio Zaccone
Institutions: University of Milan, University of Göttingen
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409446985