Effect of Point Defects and Impurities on the Electronic Structure and Transport Properties of Au Tipped PbS Nanorods

Abstract

The study of electronic structure and electronic transport of single nanostructures is the central point to understand and accomplish semiconductor device miniaturization. Point defects as well as impurity centers form easily during the growth of nanorods, which may strongly influence the electronic transport efficiencies. Existing knowledge of electronic transport are often not suitable to determine the role of defects and impurities at the nanoscale because of the unique quantum effects of carrier confinement in nanostructures. The effect of defect and impurities on the conductance of a model PbS rod was modeled using density functional theory. It was observed that the introduction of defects and Au impurities modified the orbital energies of PbS nanorods and reduced the conductance compared to the defect-free rod. The conductance for the nanorods with defects and impurities were limited by the number of available conduction channels required for efficient electronic conduction.