Microelectronics technology has made great progress by scaling down transitor sizes. However in nanoelectronic design, there is an advantage in starting on an atomic scale and use a full quantum mechanical treatment for electron transport. Approximations can then be introduced to allow for predictive simulations for transistors with feature sizes of a few nanometers. In this case, it is easier to start with "small" systems such as molecular tunnel junction and to develop rigorous treatments of the electronic structure combined with transport, notwithstanding the difficulties in obtaining well-defined experimental benchmarks.
Results for predicting currents across molecular tunnel junctions and challenges associated with the accurate theoretical treatment of charge transport on the nanoscale and the need for accurate calculations of electronegativity to predict currents is highlighted, The relationship of electronegativity to elecron-electron correlation is given and related to electron transport. The talk concludes with examples of carrier scattering in silicon nanowires. 

This Seminar will be shortly followed by Baruch Feldman's talk.