Conductance viewed as transmission

Abstract

Electric current flow, in transport theory, has usually been viewed as the response to an applied electric field. Alternatively, current flow can be viewed as a consequence of the injection of carriers at contacts and their probability of reaching the other end. This approach has proven to be particularly useful for the small samples made by modern microelectronic techniques. The approach, some of its results, and related issues are described, but without an attempt to cover all the active subtopics in this field.