In this paper, we developed an efficient three-dimensional (3-D) nanoelectronic device simulator based on a self-consistent Schrödinger-Poisson solver to simulate quantum transport. An efficient and fast algorithm, the spectral element method (SEM), is developed in this simulator to achieve spectral accuracy where the error decreases exponentially with the increase in the sampling density and the order of the polynomial basis functions, thus significantly reducing the CPU time and memory usage. Perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary method, as an alternative to the open-boundary conditions in NEGF, is applied in this solver to simplify the numerical implementation. The validity of the Schrödinger and Poisson solvers are illustrated by a multiple-terminal device and a spherical charge example, respectively. The utility of the self-consistent Schrödinger-Poisson solver is illustrated by a nanotube example. © Springer Science+Business Media LLC 2008.