Theory and modeling of electro-thermal transport in nanoscale materials and devices

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Semiconductor electronics has shaped our world. The downscaling of device dimensions that made this possible not only presented enormous technological challenges, it also raised many fundamental questions. Over time a deep understanding of electron transport at the nanoscale has been developed, along with the computational tools to accurately capture the relevant physics. Electron transport cannot, in principle, be separated from phonon (thermal) transport. The physics of coupled electron-phonon transport is responsible for self-heating in nanoscale devices, which critically limits their performance and reliability, and for providing a route for enhanced thermoelectric energy conversion in nanostructures. These and other challenges have far-reaching implications for energy and 21st century electronics. Further progress will require a deeper understanding of thermal transport at the nanoscale, along with the development of new computational tools that treat electrons and phonons on equal footing, address challenges from the nano- to macro-scale, and that are tightly connected to predictive first principles materials modeling.