Fully Coupled Nonequilibrium Electron–Phonon Transport in Nanometer-Scale Silicon FETs

Heat conduction from transistors and interconnects is a critical design consideration for computing below the 20-nm milestone. This paper reviews detailed heat generation and transport mechanisms in silicon devices with a focus on the nonequilibrium behavior of electrons and phonons. Fully coupled and self-consistent ballistic phonon and electron simulations are developed in order to examine the departure from equilibrium within the phonon system and its relevance for properly simulating the electrical behavior of devices. We illustrate the manner in which nanoscale-transport phenomena are critically important for a broad variety of low-dimensional silicon-based devices, including FinFETs and depleted substrate transistors.