Drift-velocity degradation caused by an electric field during collision in one-dimensional quantum wires

Electron transport in quasi-one-dimensional quantum wires under high electric fields is investigated with the Monte Carlo method. The intracollisional field effect that is associated with the energy change of the electron due to the high electric field during the finite collision duration is taken into account. It is shown that the electron drift velocity, contrary to previous predictions made with semiclassical treatments, is greatly reduced under moderately strong electric fields (≳ hundreds of V/cm). This holds true even if the electron confinement is not strictly strong in thick quantum wires so that multisubband scatterings are involved in determining the electron transport properties.