This collaboration between Joseph Birman, City College, and Su Zhaobin, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, focuses on developing a better theoretical understanding of the non-equilibrium transport theory of microdevices. This builds on earlier collaboration between Birman and Su. New classes of semiconductor materials, and new types of heterjunction devices, with novel electronic properties have been produced in recent years. This has been made possible by development of sophisticated techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy and metallorganic chemical vapor deposition which allow new types of engineering, and fabrication of special structures. Resonant tunneling transistors are emerging as some of the most promising electron functional devices, allowing implementation of a large class of circuits with greatly reduced complexity. Investigation of the properties of these transistors will improve understanding of their potential in development of new devices, and even in development of new computer architectures.
