Approach to steady state transport in nanoscale conductors

2005/04/30 by Neil Bushong, Na Sai, Massimiliano Di Ventra · 5 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #Nanowire Synthesis and Applications #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/nl0520157

published as Nano Lett. 5, 2569 (2005) · 4+ pages in REVTEX4, 4 epsf figures

arxiv created 2005/11/08 · openalex publication_date 2005/11/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We show, using a tight-binding model and time-dependent density-functional theory, that a quasi-steady state current can be established dynamically in a finite nanoscale junction without any inelastic effects. This is simply due to the geometrical constriction experienced by the electron wavepackets as they propagate through the junction. We also show that in this closed non-equilibrium system two local electron occupation functions can be defined on each side of the nanojunction which approach Fermi distributions with increasing number of atoms in the electrodes. The resultant conductance and current-voltage characteristics at quasi-steady state are in agreement with those calculated within the static scattering approach.

Citations

• Self-Consistent Equations Including Exchange and Correlation Effects

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