THEORY OF ROOM-TEMPERATURE QUANTIZED RESISTANCE EFFECTS IN METAL-A-SI-H-METAL THIN-FILM STRUCTURES

A theoretical model of room temperature quantized resistance steps is described in terms of movement of a Gee electron Fermi surface into a quantized k-space (associated with electron confinement in real space) under the influence of applied electric field. The model is in good a ccordance with experimental observations such as the non-periodicity i n quanta and voltage space and gives very realistic values for the par ameters of electron lifetime, Fermi wavevector and geometry. Room temp erature quantization is observed when the value of free electron lifet ime (similar to 10(-14) s) is matched with a small size for electron c onfinement (similar to 7 nm or less).