Electron transport in quantum waveguides

As electronic circuits get progressingly smaller down to the nanometer scale, device analysis based on classical or semi-classical transport theories no longer works since the quantum wave nature of the electrons starts to play a dominant role. Contemporary advances in semi-conductor fabrication technology have already allowed construction of nanostructured devices from 1 nm to 100 nm in size and confined in two, one, and zero dimensions. This paper reviews recent work on electron transport and quantum interference in nano-electronic devices, focusing mainly on the theoretical and computational aspects. A general quantum waveguide theory is presented and a wide range of computational methods for solving the corresponding Schrödinger's equations are discussed in detail. This provides a basis for computer simulations of various quantum phenomena emerging in the nanometer domain.