Full-band transport properties of silicon dioxide using the spherical-harmonics expansion of the BTE

An accurate investigation of the transport and energy-loss processes in silicon dioxide is worked out in the frame of the spherical-harmonics solution of the Boltzmann transport equation. A full-band structure for SiO2 has been used in order to accurately describe the physics of the microscopic processes both in the low- and high-field regimes. To this purpose, the density of states and group velocity have been calculated accounting for the contribution of the first eight conduction bands of β-cristobalite. A number of macroscopic transport properties of electrons in SiO2 are worked out in the steady-state regime for a homogeneous bulk structure. The investigation shows a good agreement with experiments of average energy and carrier mobility. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.