Modelling of the Non-linearity and Hysteresis of Silicon Nanowire Electrical Response for Large Self-heating

In this paper, we study by numerical and graphical modeling the electro-thermal behavior of heavily p-doped (NA=5×1019cm-3) suspended silicon nanowires for large self-heating. Computed results are correlated with experimental ones for top-down fabricated nanowires. The computed temperature rise along a Si nanowire due to Joule effect exhibits a complex nonlinearity for large biasing current when the thermal dependence of silicon nanowire properties is considered. The agreement with experimental results is improved by taking into account thermal conductivity variation resulting from size effects. The proposed model also enables a graphical interpretation of the hysteretic behavior of the silicon nanowire self-heating. Complementary phenomena and possible application are eventually discussed.