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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Silicon Nanowires and Optical Stimulation for Investigations of Intra- and Intercellular Electrical Coupling
Published on: January 28, 2021
Deformation potentials and electron-phonon coupling in silicon nanowires
F Murphy-Armando1, G Fagas, J C Greer
1Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Lee Maltings, Cork, Ireland. philip.murphy@tyndall.ie
Abstract:
The role of reduced dimensionality and of the surface on electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling in silicon nanowires is determined from first principles. Surface termination and chemistry is found to have a relatively small influence, whereas reduced dimensionality fundamentally alters the behavior of deformation potentials. As a consequence, electron coupling to "breathing modes" emerges that cannot be described by conventional treatments of e-ph coupling. The consequences for physical properties such as scattering lengths and mobilities are significant: the mobilities for [110] grown wires are 6 times larger than those for [100] wires, an effect that cannot be predicted without the form we find for Si nanowire deformation potentials.
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