A THEORY OF BOUNDARY ROUGHNESS SCATTERING IN QUANTUM WIRES

Boundary roughness scattering in quantum wires is investigated. A new formulation to construct an effective potential beyond the perturbatio n theory and the adiabatic approximation is proposed. The theory of sc attering in quasi-one dimensional systems which was proposed by the au thor to account for the higher order perturbation is re-investigated a nd is applied to a single-subband wire in the presence of screening by conduction electrons. Effects of screening in a multi-subband wire is also investigated and it is shown, at least for two-subband wires, th at at low temperatures the currents carried by each subband become equ al because of the peculiarity of the screening in quasi one-dimensiona l systems.