title: Giant enhancement of the carrier mobility in silicon nanowires with diamond coating.
abstract: We show theoretically that the low-field carrier mobility in silicon nanowires can be greatly enhanced by embedding the nanowires within a hard material such as diamond. The electron mobility in the cylindrical silicon nanowires with 4-nm diameter, which are coated with diamond, is 2 orders of magnitude higher at 10 K and a factor of 2 higher at room temperature than the mobility in a free-standing silicon nanowire. The importance of this result for the downscaled architectures and possible silicon-carbon nanoelectronic devices is augmented by an extra benefit of diamond, a superior heat conductor, for thermal management.
authors.affiliation: Nano-Device Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California-Riverside, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
authors.forename: Vladimir A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Fonoberov
authors.forename: Alexander A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Balandin
mesh_terms: D018130:Diamond / Q000737:chemistry*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004583:Electrons; D008422:Materials Testing; D009038:Motion; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D018130:Diamond; D012825:Silicon