Phonon engineered silicon - diamond nanoscale heterostructures with enhanced carrier mobility

Maintaining high electron mobility in Si channels as the transistor feature sizes continue to decrease is important for the development of Si nanoelectronics. Here we propose a novel way for the enhancement of the phonon-limited electron mobility in Si ultra-thin films. The method works over the wide range of temperatures and does not require SiGe alloy under layers which deteriorate heat removal. Our calculations show that the modification of the acoustic phonon spectrum in Si thin films embedded within ¿acoustically hard¿ barriers results in the suppression of the electron - phonon scattering rates and corresponding increase in mobility.