Description

The author has made this book accessible to many readers interested in learning about the fascinating world of nanotechnology by limiting the necessary background for understanding the book ? The book takes a very complex subject and makes very clear explanations, with many illustrations, that will give the reader an opportunity to understand these, oftentimes, counterintuitive concepts. Understanding these concepts allows one to more fully appreciate the sophistication of many of today’s electronic devices.’IEEE Electrical Insulation MagazineEveryone is familiar with the amazing performance of a modern smartphone, powered by a billion-plus nanotransistors, each having an active region that is barely a few hundred atoms long. The same amazing technology has also led to a deeper understanding of the nature of current flow and heat dissipation on an atomic scale which is of broad relevance to the general problems of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics that pervade many different fields.This book is based on a set of two online courses originally offered in 2012 on nanoHUB-U and more recently in 2015 on edX. In preparing the second edition the author decided to split it into parts A and B titled Basic Concepts and Quantum Transport respectively, along the lines of the two courses. A list of available video lectures corresponding to different sections of this volume is provided upfront.To make these lectures accessible to anyone in any branch of science or engineering, the author assume very little background beyond linear algebra and differential equations. However, the author will be discussing advanced concepts that should be of interest even to specialists, who are encouraged to look at his earlier books for additional technical details.