  We present a detailed microscopic study of quasi-ballistic transport in deep
submicron semiconductor channels. In particular, we study the crossover between
the diffusive and ballistic regimes of transport and identify signatures in the
electrostatic response, electron density, and nonequilibrium electron
distribution function that are due to ballistic and diffusive transport,
respectively. Our theoretical and computational approach is based on the
Boltzmann transport equation for a nondegenerate electron system, together with
the Poisson equation, from which we obtain the nonequilibrium electron
distribution in a self-consistent way.
