Discrete tunneling in granulated substances and other similar mediums

TL;DR

This paper analyzes discrete electronic tunneling in granulated and similar mediums, deriving an analytical model for current transport under Coulomb blockade conditions and explaining experimental observations in porous silicon and amorphous semiconductors.

Contribution

It provides an analytical solution for stationary discrete tunneling current in large chains of metal granules under Coulomb blockade, revealing an exponential current growth law.

Findings

Derived exponential law of current growth with electric field.

Explained voltage-current characteristics in porous silicon and amorphous semiconductors.

Validated theory with experimental data from synthesized materials.

Abstract

Work is devoted to physics of current transport in a wide class of the hetero-phase granulated mediums and similar systems with set of metal or semi-conductor granules, quantum dots or potential wells in which the exit from Coulomb blockade tunneling regime can be not observable because of irreversible breakdown and destruction of structure of medium. Such systems also concern and the condensed mediums with short distanced atoms of transition elements. In article for small and average electric fields the analytical decision of a stationary problem of discrete electronic transport through a chain of as much as big number of metal granules in area Coulomb tunneling blockade is performed. It is deduced the exponential law of growth of a current with electric field in such granulated systems. The characteristic feature of discrete tunneling in such medium is the volt-ampere characteristic type I exp(V/(N+1)kT) with great value N>> 1. Examples of application of the theory for explanation of current transport in porous silicon, synthesised by ionic implantation of nitrogen in silicon layers of nitride of silicon or glass like amorphous semiconductors are resulted.