Deals with how electric currents behave at the nanometer scale. This book ties together several aspects of research on current flow at the nanoscale, including its relevance in defects, grain boundaries, tunneling, and atomic contacts; and its effects through nanostructures, particularly for transistor miniaturization.

As the scale of electronic devices begins to approach the nanometer level, notes Durkan (U. of Cambridge, UK), it is becoming increasingly important to understand the details of electric current (flow in reduced dimensions. In this work, he provides an introductory overview of transport phenomena from the macroscale to the atomic level. Chapters describe the role of quantum level events in traditional resistors and transistors; the quantum nature of current flow (i.e. the relationship between current and voltage and the origins of electrical resistance); the role of geometry, size, and microstructure in determining resistance at the nanoscale; techniques for probing the electrical properties of structures and devices at the nanoscale; heating and electromigration in nanowires; and the emerging field of molecular electronics. Distributed in the US by World Scientific.