The impact of defect scattering on the quasi-ballistic transport of nanoscale conductors

Using the Landauer approach for carrier transport, we analyze the impact of defects induced by ion irradiation on the transport properties of nanoscale conductors that operate in the quasi-ballistic regime. Degradation of conductance results from a reduction of carrier mean free path due to the introduction of defects in the conducting channel. We incorporate scattering mechanisms from radiation-induced defects into calculations of the transmission coefficient and present a technique for extracting modeling parameters from near-equilibrium transport measurements. These parameters are used to describe degradation in the transport properties of nanoscale devices using a formalism that is valid under quasi-ballistic operation. The analysis includes the effects of bandstructure and dimensionality on the impact of defect scattering and discusses transport properties of nanoscale devices from the diffusive to the ballistic limit. We compare calculations with recently published measurements of irradiated nanoscale devices such as single-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene, and deep-submicron Si metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors.