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We perform TCAD simulation for TMDC channel TFETs with the material parameters considering ab initio band structure. By using the WKB-based nonlocal band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) model with the above parameters, we find that the current voltage characteristics of the TFETs are in good agreement with those obtained by microscopic NEGF calculation. Based on this approach, we also investigate the dependence of tunnel leakage current on the gate length. Our simulation method paves the way for reliable macroscopic device simulations for TMDC channel TFET.

We describe our recent progress in developing a non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) quantum transport simulator based on the real-space density functional theory (RSDFT). The simulator is implemented with the R-matrix theory and the low-dimensional equivalent model (EM), which substantially reduce the computational burden and make it possible to simulate the transport characteristics of realistic semiconductor devices from the first-principles. The simulator can incorporate non-equilibrium polarization charge effects by using the EM method to construct a piece-wise EM representation for a wide energy range of the RSDFT Hamiltonian. Numerical examples of transfer characteristics have shown for Si and Ge nanosheet field-effect transistors (FETs) and Si nanowire FETs.

A method for quantum transport simulations of nanowire (NW) field-effect transistors (FETs) with inelastic electron---phonon scattering processes incorporated is presented in this paper. The microscopic device Hamiltonian with realistic phonon spectrum and electron---phonon interaction is transformed into an equivalent low-dimensional transport model with discrete random phonon modes. The electron---phonon coupling constants are optimized in order to reproduce the inelastic scattering effects. Small size of the model and special form of the inelastic self-energy terms in the NEGF formalism make it a powerful tool to study dissipative transport in realistic NW transistors. The utility of the method is demonstrated by computing inelastic transport characteristics in Si NW FETs.

We report a simultaneous increase of carrier concentration, mobility and photoresponsivity when SiC-grown graphene is decorated with a surface layer of colloidal PbS quantum dots, which act as electron donors. The charge on the ionised dots is spatially correlated with defect charges on the SiC-graphene interface, thus enhancing both electron carrier density and mobility. This charge-correlation model is supported by Monte Carlo simulations of electron transport and used to explain the unexpected 3-fold increase of mobility with increasing electron density. The enhanced carrier concentration and mobility give rise to Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in the magnetoresistance, which provide an estimate of the electron cyclotron mass in graphene at high densities and Fermi energies up to 1.2 x 10(13) cm(-2) and 400 meV, respectively. Funding Agencies|Leverhulme Trust [RPG-2013-242]; Engineering and Physical Sciences Council [EP/M012700/1]; EU

Interband tunnelling of carriers through a forbidden energy gap, known as Zener tunnelling, is a phenomenon of fundamental and technological interest. Its experimental observation in the Esaki p-n semiconductor diode has led to the first demonstration and exploitation of quantum tunnelling in a condensed matter system. Here we demonstrate a new type of Zener tunnelling that involves the resonant transmission of electrons through zero-dimensional (0D) states. In our devices, a narrow quantum well of the mid-infrared (MIR) alloy In(AsN) is placed in the intrinsic (i) layer of a p-i-n diode. The incorporation of nitrogen in the quantum well creates 0D states that are localized on nanometer lengthscales. These levels provide intermediate states that act as “stepping stones” for electrons tunnelling across the diode and give rise to a negative differential resistance (NDR) that is weakly dependent on temperature. These electron transport properties have potential for the development of nanometre-scale non-linear components for electronics and MIR photonics.

Symmetric GaGdN/AlGaN (Gd concentration: 2%) and GaN/AlGaN double quantum well superlattices (DQW-SLs) were grown by radio-frequency plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy on GaN (0001) templates. Atomic steps were observed on all the sample surfaces by atomic force microscope. X-ray diffraction θ /2 θ scan curves exhibited well-defined satellite structures. Room temperature ferromagnetism was confirmed for the GaGdN/AlGaN DQW-SL samples by using alternating gradient magnetometer. Strong photoluminescence was observed from both GaGdN and GaN QWs at higher energy side of GaN excitonic peak. Magneto-photoluminescence spectra for GaGdN/AlGaN DQW-SL samples showed a large magnetic field dependence of the excitonic energy by applying a magnetic field up to 7 T. The observed strong redshift of excitonic PL indicated an enhancement of Zeeman splitting of the free carrier energy levels in magnetic GaGdN/AlGaN DQW-SL. Enhanced g -factor was estimated to be about 60 for GaGdN/AlGaN DQW-SL sample with QW thickness of 1 nm.

Hot phonon generation and its impact on the current conduction in a nanoscale Si-device are investigated using a Monte Carlo simulation technique. In the quasi-ballistic transport regime, electrons injected from the source lose their energies mainly by emitting optical phonons in the drain. Due to the slow group velocity of the optical phonons, the efficiency of the heat dissipation is so poor that a region with a nonequilibrium phonon distribution, i.e., a hot spot, is created. In this study, we have implemented the hot phonon effect in an ensemble Monte Carlo simulator for the electron transport, and carried out the steady state simulations. Although it is confirmed that the optical phonon temperature in the hot spot is larger than that of acoustic phonons by > 100 K, the electron current density is not significantly affected. The local heating would degrade the hot electron cooling efficiency and the parasitic resistance in the drain, but they have a minor impact on the quasi-ballistic electron transport from the source to the drain.

The acoustic phonon modulation (confinement) in semiconductor nanostructures and their interaction with electrons are reviewed. Special emphasis will be placed on free-standing and layered slabs, as well as nanowires. Analysis includes acoustic phonon dispersion relations, displacement wave functions, amplitudes, form factor, electron-phonon scattering rate, and electron mobility.

Impacts of acoustic phonon modulation on the electron-acoustic phonon interaction in a free-standing semiconductor plate are theoretically investigated. In formulating the electron-phonon interaction, the differences between bulk and modulated acoustic phonons are encapsulated into the form factor. The form factors calculated using modulated acoustic phonons are larger than those obtained using bulk phonons, regardless of electronic states, plate thickness, or plate material. The form factor explains the behavior of the momentum relaxation rate and electron mobility qualitatively, but consistently. When properly normalized, the form factors show an universality. The form factor increase can be attributed to an increase in the number of phonon modes having longitudinal vibration due to surface mode generation and mode conversion.

Modulated acoustic phonons and their interactions with electrons in a free-standing cylindrical semiconductor nanowire are investigated theoretically. It is shown that the form factor is a key quantity in discussing the impact of acoustic phonons on electron transport. The form factor calculated using modulated acoustic phonons is identical to that calculated using bulk phonons for a large phonon wave vector along the wire, whereas it is larger for a small phonon wave vector. This increase directly leads to an increase in the electron scattering rate and a reduction in mobility. In addition, the form factor increase has a universality independent of the wire material and radius.

Current-voltage characteristics of double-gate silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs have been calculated within non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism including g-type, f-type, and acoustic phonon scatterings. Contribution of f-type phonons to the current reduction is smaller than that of g-type phonons. Effects of the phonon scatterings on the drain current at off-states are weaker than those at on-states. At off-states, phonon-assisted tunneling partially compensates a current loss due to scattering for shorter gate lengths, while polaronic current component appears for longer gate lengths.

We have developed a theory for resonant tunneling through a dilute nitride quantum well in the presence of a tilted magnetic field. We show that magneto-tunneling spectroscopy provides a novel means of probing the scattering potential due to randomly distributed nitrogen impurities. This technique can be extended to probe other types and sources of disordered potential. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We calculated intravalley and intervalley phonon scattering rates of accelerated electrons under intense midinfrared laser fields. We extended the Keldysh theory, which assumes oscillatory motion of Bloch electrons driven by intense laser fields, to phonon scattering of electrons in semiconductors. We find that phonon emission is possible even if the initial electron energy is less than the phonon energy due to multi-photon absorption processes. We also find that the scattering rates increase with electric field strength and wavelength. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We study the strong effect of a small concentration (1 part per 1000) of randomly distributed N-resonant scatterers on the quantized Landau level states of a GaAs quantum well. Our magneto-tunneling spectroscopy measurements allow us to probe the resonant and non-resonant component of the N-related scattering potential.

Various temperature measurements of cyclotron resonance (CR) under pulsed ultra-high magnetic field up to 160 T were carried out in InGaAs/GaAs superlattice (SL) and InGaAs/AlAs SL samples grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs substrates. Clear free-electron CR and impurity CR signals were observed in transmission of CO2 laser with wavelength of 10.6 μm. A binding energy of impurities in these SLs was roughly estimated based on the experiment as result, and we found it was smaller than the previous experimental result of GaAs/AlAs SLs and theoretical calculation with a simple model.

Three-dimensional simulation based on a non-equilibrium Green’s function method including electron-phonon interaction and Si/SiO2 interface roughness has been performed for ultra-small FinFETs. Comparing the simulated drain-current–gate-voltage characteristics with those obtained in the ballistic limit, effects of the scatterings on the device characteristics are discussed. Threshold voltage fluctuation is also discussed.

We present a theoretical and computational investigation of resonant electron transport in GaAs/AlAs superlattices in the presence of electric and magnetic fields applied along the direction perpendicular to the interfaces. Our calculation focuses on the form of the velocity—electric-field curve in the region of increasing Wannier–Stark localization. We find that the current flow is strongly modulated by a subtle interplay of Stark cyclotron resonance and optical-phonon resonance.

Drain-current-gate-voltage characteristics of 13 nm- and 9 nm-gate-length MOSFETs are simulated using a nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) technique. The calculated characteristics are compared with those calculated with semi-classical Monte Carlo simulations of two-dimensional (2D-MC) and three-dimensional electron gases (3D-MC). Adopting the same scattering model for NEGF, 2D-MC, and 3D-MC simulations, impact of quantum effects along the confinement direction and along the transport direction is discussed.

We have performed a Monte Carlo simulation of the electron motion in a Landau-quantized GaAs/AlAs superlattice to investigate the effect of increasing the temperature on the miniband conduction. A strong drift-velocity enhancement is found to occur when cyclical phonon emission and absorption are taken into account.

We perform numerical calculations to investigate the validity of magneto-tunneling spectroscopy in resonant tunneling diodes as a means of mapping wavefunctions. The effects of the emitter potential profile on wavefunction mapping are discussed.

Straight and zigzag quantum dot arrays (QDAs) are fabricated on GaAs/AlGaAs single heterostructures by using electron-beam lithography and wet-chemical etching. The magnetoresistance is measured at T=4.2 K . Low-field magnetoresistance shows several peaks whose magnetic-field position depends on the lateral shape of the QDAs. Numerical simulation of magnetoconductance characteristics is performed, and the results are compared with the experimental results.

Effects of conduction-band non-parabolicity on electron transport properties in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) are studied by performing Monte Carlo simulation with a full-band modeling. An empirical pseudo-potential method is adopted for evaluating the two-dimensional electronic states in SOI MOSFETs. SOI-film thickness dependence of phonon-limited mobility, drift-velocity and subband occupancy is calculated and the results are compared with those of a simple effective mass approximation. The non-parabolicity effects are found to play an important role in 4-fold valleys under higher applied electric fields or at higher temperatures.

A full-band Monte Carlo simulation of two-dimensional electron gas is performed to study effects of the non-parabolicity of the energy band structure on the phonon-limited electron mobility in SOI MOSFETs with a thin Si-layer.

In this study, we have developed an evaluation tool of quasi-ballistic transport parameters in realistic devices, to clarify practical benefits of downscaling MOSFETs into ultimate physical scaling limit. It is found that ballistic transport in double-gate (DG) MOSFETs is enhanced due to the channel length (L ch ) scaling until L ch = 10 nm, but when L ch is further scaled to less than 10 nm using T Si = L ch /3 scaling rule, where TSi is the channel thickness, surface roughness scattering intensified by spatial fluctuation of quantized subbands drastically degrades ballistic transport. Furthermore, on-current increase or decrease of ultra-scaled DG MOSFETs is found to be basically determined by a backscattering coefficient R. Gate and drain bias voltage dependencies of ballisticity are also evaluated.

The paper presents a method for quantum transport simulations in nanowire (NW) MOSFETs with inelastic scattering processes incorporated. An atomistic tight-binding Hamiltonian with realistic electron-phonon interaction is transformed into an equivalent low-dimensional transport model which can be easily used in full-scaled NEGF simulations. The utility of the method is demonstrated by computing IV characteristics in n-Si NW devices.

Monte Carlo simulation of electron motion in a Landau-quantized GaAs/AlAs superlattice with narrow miniband width is performed to investigate the effect of a strong magnetic field on miniband conduction. Suppression of the miniband conduction under high magnetic fields at low temperatures and its recovery at high temperatures are discussed.

Monte Carlo simulations of electron motion in GaAs/A1As superlattices with narrow mini-band width are performed to investigate the effect of a strong magnetic field on miniband conduction. In the quantum limit at low temperatures when the cyclotron energy exceeds the miniband width, the miniband conduction is found to exhibit a strong suppression. This results from the quasi-one-dimensional states formed in the quantum limit and the restricted range of the scattering processes available to the conduction electrons. A small shoulder on the lower electric field side of the main peak is also found in marked contrast with Esaki-Tsu and Ignatov models.

Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements in δ -doped GaAs/AlGaAs on the quantum well structures are performed to study effects of ionized impurities relaxation process of photoexcited carriers. It is theoretically shown that a thin quantum well with a δ -doping layer inserted in the barrier layer of double quantum wells enhances the impurity scattering rate significantly. Photoluminescence decay time in the δ -doped samples is found to decrease compared with the undoped samples.

Luminescence from a GaAs/AlGaAs asymmetric double-quantum-well structure under intense mid-infrared irradiation with a free electron laser (FEL) has been observed. The FEL wavelength and power dependence has been measured, which is then compared with a result of a full-band Monte Carlo simulation.

We investigate miniband conduction in GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs superlattices at low temperatures and at high magnetic fields up to 23 T. The fields are applied perpendicular to the tunnel barriers. The current flowing through the sample is strongly suppressed by the magnetic field over the voltage range corresponding to the miniband conduction peak. This effect is related to the formation of quasi-one-dimensional Landau level minibands when the cyclotron energy exceeds the miniband width.

We present a review on recent study of the type I to type II transition in short-period superlattices (SLs) of GaAs/AlAs by means of cyclotron resonance (CR) in pulsed high magnetic fields. The behavior of CR varies depending on the thickness of the GaAs and AlAs layers. In CR of (GaAs) n /(AlAs) n , the resonance peak at the X minima was observed in the type II regime for n smaller than 14, whereas the resonance at the Γ point was observed for n >15. We estimated electron masses on X and Γ point in the SLs by using the empirical sp 3 tight-binding method including second-nearest-neighbor interaction. These calculations have shown good agreement with the experimental results. Moreover, it was found that the angular dependence of the CR peak position does not obey the simple cosine dependence due to the subband mixing in high magnetic fields. From the angular dependence in the SLs, the longitudinal and transverses electron masses of AlAs at the X point were deduced to be m t =0.21 m 0 and m l =1.04 m 0 , respectively.

We have carried out measurements of cyclotron resonance (CR) in type-I (GaAs)n/(AlAs)n superlattices (SLs) applying pulsed high magnetic fields up to 150 T. Two types of peaks have been observed in CR signals; one originates from a transition between Landau levels of free electrons, and the other from transition between impurity levels. The free-electron CR signals are dominant at room temperature, and the impurity CR signals become large as temperature decreases. From the peak position of CR spectra, at room temperature, the effective mass of the electron in (GaAs)n/(AlAs)n SL is deduced. To analyze the impurity transition in high magnetic fields, we have calculated the impurity levels in the SLs using the variational method assuming a single quantum well for simplicity. In spite of a very simple model, the calculated results are in good agreement with the CR results of type-I (GaAs)n/(AlAs)n SLs.

DC miniband transport is studied in undoped GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs superlattices at low temperatures and at high magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the tunnel barriers. A strong suppression of miniband conduction is observed under these conditions. We propose a qualitative semi-classical Drude model to explain the observed results.

Photoluminescence and electroreflectance measurements in Si δ-doped GaAs/Al0.35Ga0.65-A triple quantum wells are performed in order to study the effect of ionized impurities on electron tunneling. It is theoretically shown that a thin quantum well with a δ-doping layer inserted between narrow and wide quantum wells of asymmetric double quantum wells enhances impurity scattering rate significantly. Photoluminescence decay time is found to decrease 30% at maximum compared with a sample without a δ-doping layer.

Atomistic transport simulation based on the nonequilibrium Green's function and empirical tight-binding methods has been performed for one-dimensional strained Si n–i–n devices. Simulation results show that the tensile strain enhances the ballistic current and reduces the Zener tunneling current, while the compressive strain gives opposite results.

We investigate dc miniband transport in undoped GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs superlattices. High magnetic fields are applied to the samples in the growth direction at low temperature. A strong suppression of miniband conduction is observed under these conditions. We propose a qualitative semi-classical Drude model that can explain the observed results.

Magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron gas in InAs/AlGaSb quantum wells with high and low carrier concentrations was measured for a wide range of temperatures. At high temperatures, a weak oscillation of the magnetoresistance with a fundamental field of B 0 ≈6.3 T was observed in the low carrier concentration samples, which is attributed to the magnetophonon resonances, while a combined oscillation of the magnetoresistance due to the magnetophonon and the magneto-intersubband-scattering effects was clearly observed in the high carrier concentration samples.

Magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron gas in Si- and non-doped InAs/AlGaSb quantum wells was measured for a wide range of temperature. At low temperatures, the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillation was observed for both samples, and the Fourier analysis of the SdH oscillation reveals that electrons are populated in two subbands for the Si-doped sample, while only the lowest subband is occupied in the non-doped sample. At high temperatures, a weak oscillation with a fundamental field of T was observed in the non-doped sample, which is attributed to the magnetophonon resonances (MPR). For the Si-doped sample, on the other hand, combined oscillations of magnetoresistance due to the magnetophonon and the magneto-intersubband-scattering (MIS) effects were observed.

Laser Raman microscope measurements in asymmetric double quantum wells with coupled narrow and wide quantum wells were performed to observe the nonequilibrium longitudinal-optical (LO) phonons that are generated by electrons during the phonon assisted tunneling. Both the Stokes and the anti-Stokes intensities show maxima at a certain applied voltage, where the calculated subband spacing between the wide and the narrow quantum well states is found to be equal to the LO phonon energy. This fact indicates that the population of nonequilibrium LO phonons becomes maximum when resonant LO phonon scattering occurs. A strong reduction in the photoluminescence intensity for the narrow quantum well is also observed at the same bias condition.

Electroreflectance (ER), time-integrated photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL experiments were performed on an Al0.36Ga0.64As/GaAs asymmetric double-quantum well (ADQWs) structure with coupled narrow and wide quantum wells in order to investigate the optical-phonon assisted tunneling. At a certain external applied voltage, a distinct quenching of the time-integrated PL intensity for the narrow quantum well is observed. By calibrating the internal electric field through the ER measurements and calculating subband levels in the ADQWs structure, the quenching is attributed to the resonant optical-phonon assisted tunneling of electrons between the narrow and wide quantum wells. The decay time of electrons in the narrow quantum well was also found to become minima at the same applied voltage.

Electronic structures in circular, elliptic, and triangular shaped quantum dots containing single or a few electrons are calculated by numerically diagonalizing the $N$-electron Hamiltonian (for $N$ up to $12)$. In a circular quantum dot, the addition energy shows a clear structure as a function of $N$ due to the shell filling and the spin-polarized half filling. In an elliptic quantum dot, however, the structure is found to be diminished, which is attributed to the splitting of the degenerated single-particle states due to the asymmetric confining potential. The states with $N=3$, 6, and 9 electrons in a triangular quantum dot are found to be slightly stable compared to a circular quantum dot, which is interpreted in terms of a geometrical effect.

Electroreflectance (ER) and photoluminescence (PL) experiments have been performed at 10 K on an asymmetric double-quantum-well (ADQW) structure with coupled narrow and wide quantum wells to investigate optical-phonon assisted tunnelling. At a certain external applied voltage, a distinct quenching of the PL intensity for the narrow-quantum-well luminescence is observed. By calibrating the internal electric field through the ER measurements and calculating subband levels in the ADQW structure, the quenching is attributed to resonant optical-phonon assisted tunnelling of electrons.

We have carried out cyclotron resonance (CR) measurements of (InGaAs) 8 /(AlAs) 8 superlattice (SL) to investigate electronic properties of the SL under pulsed ultra-high magnetic fields. The magnetic fields up to 160 T were generated by using the single-turn-coil technique. Clear CR signals were obtained in the transmission of far-infrared laser through the SL at room temperature and lower temperature. We observed a shift of CR peak to lower magnetic field caused by transition from free-electron CR to impurity CR below ∼90 K. Compared with the previous works or GaAs/AlAs SL, the peak shift was small and the transition temperature was low. This result suggests that a binding energy of the impurity in the InGaAs/AlAs SL is smaller than the GaAs/AlAs SL.

It is a common view that ballistic transport is enhanced due to channel length scaling because of decreased scattering number. In this study, based on Monte Carlo (MC) simulation technique, we have successfully extracted quasi-ballistic transport parameters such as backscattering coefficient, by carefully monitoring particle trajectories around the potential bottleneck point. We have found that contrary to expectations, ballistic transport in ultra-scaled double-gate (DG) MOSFETs is not enhanced mainly due to intensified surface roughness (SR) scattering if the channel length reduces less than 10 nm.

Fluctuations of device characteristics due to random discrete dopant (RDD) distribution are numerically investigated in ultra-small Si nanowire transistors. Kinetic Monte Carlo process simulation is performed to obtain realistic RDD distributions, whose effects on the transport characteristics are then analyzed by using a non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method. Fluctuations due to atomic disorder near the Si/SiO2 interface are also investigated by performing molecular dynamics oxidation simulation for realistic atomic structure models and NEGF device simulation for transport characteristics.

Effects of phonon scattering on random-dopant-induced current fluctuations are investigated in silicon nanowire transistors. Active dopant distributions obtained through kinetic Monte Carlo simulation are introduced into 10nm-gate-length n-type nanowire transistors, and the current-voltage characteristics are calculated by the non-equilibrium Green's function method. The current fluctuation is found to be suppressed by ~ 40% by phonon scatterings at the on-state, while it is very weakly affected at the off-state.

We present a review on the recent study of the type I to type II transition in short-period superlattices of GaAs/AlAs by means of cyclotron resonance and interband magneto-optical spectroscopy in pulsed high magnetic fields up to 500 T. In the magneto-photoluminescence spectra of excitons in , the magnetic-field-induced type I to type II transition was observed with and without the simultaneous application of high pressure. The behaviour of the transition varies depending on the thickness of the AlAs layers. In cyclotron resonance of , the resonance peak at the X minima was observed in the type II regime for n smaller than 14, whereas the resonance at the point was observed for n>15. It was found that the angular dependence of the peak position does not obey the simple cosine dependence due to the subband mixing in high magnetic fields. From the angular dependence, the effective masses at the X point were determined. In high-field cyclotron resonance measurements at 129 meV up to 400 T for n = 16 (type I), the resonance of the X minima expected at around 260 T was indiscernible, despite the fact that the transition should have occurred at lower fields.

We have studied fluctuations in the differential conductance of resonant tunnelling diodes which incorporate a δ-layer of donor impurities in the centre plane of the quantum well. The system is well-suited to studying this type of conductance fluctuation, as we can control the number and position of the impurity states and also vary their effective linewidth by the application of a magnetic field perpendicular to the current direction.

The effect of a magnetic field applied parallel to the current through quantum confined GaAs/AlAs resonant-tunneling diodes with submicrometer lateral dimensions is studied theoretically. A tunneling current peak associated with an intersubband transition is predicted for intermediate magnetic field. This results from a difference in the degree of confinement in the emitter and the well. The results are compared with experiments.

Linear transverse magnetoresistance is commonly observed in many material systems including semimetals, narrow band-gap semiconductors, multi-layer graphene and topological insulators. It can originate in an inhomogeneous conductor from distortions in the current paths induced by macroscopic spatial fluctuations in the carrier mobility and it has been explained using a phenomenological semiclassical random resistor network model. However, the link between the linear magnetoresistance and the microscopic nature of the electron dynamics remains unknown. Here we demonstrate how the linear magnetoresistance arises from the stochastic behaviour of the electronic cycloidal trajectories around low-mobility islands in high-mobility inhomogeneous conductors and that this process is only weakly affected by the applied electric field strength. Also, we establish a quantitative link between the island morphology and the strength of linear magnetoresistance of relevance for future applications., Linear magnetoresistance is a phenomenon observed in many material systems and could be used in magnetic field sensors. This paper uncovers its microscopic origin showing how it arises from multiple scattering of electrons by low-mobility islands within an inhomogeneous high-mobility semiconductor.