Multiple valley couplings in nanometer Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

We investigate the couplings between different energy band valleys in a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) device using self-consistent calculations of million-atom Schrodinger-Poisson equations. Atomistic empirical pseudopotentials are used to describe the device Hamiltonian and the underlying bulk band structure. The MOSFET device is under nonequilibrium condition with a source-drain bias up to 2 V and a gate potential close to the threshold potential. We find that all the intervalley couplings are small, with the coupling constants less than 3 meV. As a result, the system eigenstates derived from different bulk valleys can be calculated separately. This will significantly reduce the simulation time because the diagonalization of the Hamiltonian matrix scales as the third power of the total number of basis functions. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Magnetic barrier on strained graphene: A possible valley filter

We put forward a two-terminal valley filter based on a bulk graphene sheet under the modulations of both a local perpendicular magnetic field and a substrate strain. When only one of the two modulations is present, no valley polarization can be generated. A combination of the two modulations leads to a different (but not opposite) shifts of the K and K' valleys, which could be utilized to generate a valley-polarized current. The degree of the valley polarization can be tuned by the strain strength and the inclusion of a scalar potential. The valley polarization changes its polarity as the local magnetic field switches its direction.