Inelastic quantum transport in superlattices: success and failure of the Boltzmann equation
arXiv:cond-mat/9902344 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.836
Abstract
Electrical transport in semiconductor superlattices is studied within a fully self-consistent quantum transport model based on nonequilibrium Green functions, including phonon and impurity scattering. We compute both the drift velocity-field relation and the momentum distribution function covering the whole field range from linear response to negative differential conductivity. The quantum results are compared with the respective results obtained from a Monte Carlo solution of the Boltzmann equation. Our analysis thus sets the limits of validity for the semiclassical theory in a nonlinear transport situation in the presence of inelastic scattering.
final version with minor changes, to appear in Physical Review Letters, sceduled tentatively for July, 26 (1999)