Electrical transport in semiconductor superlattices is studied within a fully
self-consistent quantum transport model based on nonequilibrium Green
functions, including phonon and impurity scattering. We compute both the drift
velocity-field relation and the momentum distribution function covering the
whole field range from linear response to negative differential conductivity.
The quantum results are compared with the respective results obtained from a
Monte Carlo solution of the Boltzmann equation. Our analysis thus sets the
limits of validity for the semiclassical theory in a nonlinear transport
situation in the presence of inelastic scattering.Comment: final version with minor changes, to appear in Physical Review
Letters, sceduled tentatively for July, 26 (1999
