This paper presents an open-system quantum transport treatment to investigate the local density of electron states and conductive properties of δ-layer systems. Applying this treatment to phosphorus δ-layers in silicon explains the origin of recently observed shallow sub-bands and reproduces measured sheet resistance values. Analysis reveals two key quantum-mechanical effects: spatially distinct layers of free electrons with different average energies, and significant sheet resistance dependence on δ-layer thickness for a fixed sheet charge density.

Denis Mamaluy, Juan P. Mendez, Xujiao Gao, Shashank Misra