As the size of modern electronic and optoelectronic devices is scaling down at a steady pace, atomistic simulations become necessary for an accurate modelling of their structural, electronic, optical and transport properties. Such microscopic approaches are important in order to account correctly for quantum-mechanical phenomena affecting both electronic and transport properties of nanodevices. Effective bulk parameters cannot be used for the description of the electronic states since interfacial properties play a crucial role and semiclassical methods for transport calculations are not suitable at the typical scales where the device behaviour is characterized by coherent tunnelling.