Resonant tunneling properties of inverted Morse double quantum barrier

We study resonant tunneling characteristics of inverted Morse double quantum barrier structures. The effect of electric bias and structure parameters is calculated by using non-equilibrium Green's function method. Results for the transmission coefficients are compared with the structure parameters. Our results show that the widths of the wells and heights of barriers have a significant effect on the transmission properties. We found that the resonant peak of the transmission coefficient decreases with increasing electric field bias. Moreover, resonant energy level increases with increasing barrier height and increasing width parameters.     

Resonant tunneling properties of heterostructures

A general theory of resonance tunneling in planar structures, independent of the detailed form of the “well”, is developed. The transmission probability versus energy is Lorentzian, near each quasi-local level, with a width that is simply related to the lifetime for escape from the local state, the wave-packet transit time, and the dynamical response time. The charge-accumulation effect is estimated.     

Effect of strain on hole tunneling dynamics in double barrier heterostructures

A study of the effects of strain due to external stress and lattice mismatch on hole tunneling times in double barrier heterostructures is presented. The band structure of holes is calculated based on a k·p method within the envelope function approximation, including band mixing effects. The phase delay time is obtained from the energy derivative of the total phase shift of the wave function upon tunneling and is used to estimate the hole tunneling time. The results demonstrate that strain can be utilized to tailor hole tunneling times by changing the energy separation and, consequently, the mixing between heavy hole and light hole states in the quantum well.     

Testing of resonant tunneling double barrier heterostructures by BEEM/BEES

This work shows how ballistic electron emission microscopy and spectroscopy (BEEM/BEES) can be used for study of the tunneling double barrier heterostructures. From positions of resonant levels follows that roughness at the interfaces is present. The variation of the thickness of the well atributed to the existed roughness is estimated using simple calculation. Presented at the 1st Czech-Chinese Workshop “Advanced Materials for Optoelectronics”, Prague, Czech Republic, June 13–17, 1998. This work is partly supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic under grant No. 102/97/0427.     

Effect of negative electric field on spin-dependent tunneling in double barrier semiconductor heterostructures

The effect of negative electric field on spin-dependent tunneling in double barrier heterostructures of III–V semiconductor is theoretically investigated. The transfer matrix approach is used by considering Dresselhaus and induced-Rashba effect to calculate the barrier transparency and polarization efficiency. Cent percent polarization efficiency can be achieved for the negative electric field by increasing the width of the potential barrier. The separation between spin-up and spin-down resonances are evaluated. The separation between spin resonances and tunneling lifetime of electrons are observed for various negative electric fields as well as for various barrier widths. The linear variation of spin separation and tunneling lifetime of electrons are observed as a function of negative electric field.     

Resonant enhancement of tunneling magnetoresistance in double-barrier magnetic heterostructures

We show that spin-dependent resonant tunneling can dramatically enhance tunneling magnetoresistance. We consider double-barrier structures comprising a semiconductor quantum well between two insulating barriers and two ferromagnetic electrodes. By tuning the width of the quantum well, the lowest resonant level can be moved into the energy interval where the density of states for minority spins is zero. This leads to a great enhancement of the magnetoresistance, which exhibits a strong maximum as a function of the quantum well width. We demonstrate that magnetoresistance exceeding 800% is achievable in GaMnAs/AlAs/GaAs/AlAs/GaMnAs double-barrier structures.     

Resonant tunneling in double barrier structures with GaAs and (InGa)As quantum wells

Resonant tunneling through an (AlGa)As/In_XGa_1−XAs/(AlGa)As double barrier structure has been observed. Three crystals with indium concentration x=0, x=0.08 and x=0.13 were grown. For x=0, GaAs wells, we investigated the variation in resonance voltage, i.e. voltage at peak current, between different diodes across a wafer. The resonance voltage exhibited a skew distribution which is interpreted as an effect of lateral alloy variation in the active layers and differences in contact resistance. For (InGa)Asv quantum wells we found a negative differential resistance at 77 K with a peak-to-valley ratio as large as 3:1. The resonance voltage decreased as the indium concentration x was increased. This is an effect of the position of the ground state which is lowered (due to smaller bandgap) compared to the Fermi level. At x=0.13 the ground state was found to be below the conduction band edge of the GaAs contact regions and therefore the ground state resonance was absent.     

Spin-polarized tunneling in ferromagnetic double barrier junctions

Spin-polarized tunneling in FMS/M/FMS double tunnel junctions where FMSs are ferromagnetic semiconductor layers and M is a metal spacer is studied theoretically within the single-site coherent potential approximation (CPA). The exchange interaction between a conduction electron and localized moment of the magnetic ion is treated in the framework of the s-f model. The spin polarization in the FMS layers is observed to oscillates as a function of the number of atomic planes in the spacer layer. Amplitude of these oscillations decreases with increasing the exchange interaction in FMS layers. Received 9 June 2001 and Received in final form 20 August 2001     

Current fluctuations in 1D double - barrier heterostructures

A theoretical formalism to study the current-noise characteristic of one-dimensional double barrier heterostructures taking into account correlation effects is developed within the context of the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green functions. The effects of the Coulomb blockade on the characteristic curve (current versus voltage) and on the current fluctuation are studied in a selfconsistent calculation. For the static case a reduction of the full shot noise is observed. The effects of the barrier characteristics on the transport properties are also analyzed. A connection between the noise frequency spectrum and the transit time of the electron going along the structure is established.     

Intersubband photocurrent from double barrier resonant tunneling structures

Simple models of semiconductor-based double barrier resonant tunneling structures predict a large accumulation of charge carriers in the structure. These carriers can be excited optically from one subband to another generating photocurrent. In this work we have investigated the photo-induced current due to intersubband excitation in double barrier structures. We have found that the origin of the photocurrent is accumulation of quantized carriers in the emitter-barrier junction of the structure, rather than accumulation of carriers in the double barrier quantum well. This photon assisted tunneling process in double barrier structures may be used for infrared detection.     

Electron-phonon scattering in an asymmetric double barrier resonant tunneling structure

We calculate the electron-phonon scattering rate for an asymmetric double barrier resonant tunneling structure based on dielectric continuum theory, including all phonon modes, and show that interface phonons contribute much more to the scattering rate than do bulk-like LO phonons for incident energies which are approximately within an order of magnitude of the Fermi energy. The maximum scattering rate occurs for incident electron energies near the quantum well resonance. Subband nonparabolicity has a significant influence on electron-phonon scattering in these structures. We show that the relaxation time is comparable to the dwell time of electrons in the quantum well for a typical resonant tunneling structure. Received: 23 December 1997 / Revised: 24 March 1998 / Accepted: 9 March 1998     

A light-induced tunneling state in a submicron double barrier tunneling diode with a center-doped well

We will present the observation of a light-induced meta-stable impurity state in a submicron center-doped double barrier tunneling diode (DBRTD) manufactured by a novel single-step e-beam lithography process in which no further alignment for the interconnect between the bonding pad and the small active device region is required. We attribute the meta-stable tunneling state, which can be switched by light and high voltage bias, to the light- or field-induced charge redistribution in the active tunneling region.     

Spin-polarized current produced by a double barrier resonant tunneling diode

The spin-polarized tunneling current through a double barrier resonant tunneling diode (RTD) made with a semimagnetic semiconductor is studied theoretically. The calculated spin-polarized current and polarization degree are in agreement with recent experimental results. It is predicted that the polarization degree can be modulated continuously from +1 to −1 by changing the external voltage such that the quasi-confined spin-up and spin-down energy levels shift downwards from the Fermi level to the bottom of the conduction band. The RTD with low potential barrier or the tunneling through the second quasi-confined state produces larger spin-polarized current. Furthermore a higher magnetic field enhances the polarization degree of the tunneling current.     

Resonant tunnelling lifetime in the semiconductor superlattice

The fundamental physics of the resonant tunnelling lifetime (RTL) in superlattices have been theoretically studied. The modelling of this RTL is based on a relationship between the resonant tunnelling and the half-width at half-maximum of the transmission peak. The lifetime of resonant states and the current density accompany the resonant tunnelling change as a function of mole fraction of the barrier layer, well width and barrier width. The energies and the lifetime of the electrons at the resonant states are correlated with the band structure of the superlattices. It is seen that the variation in RTL with resonance energy has a special minima, and that these minima occur around the centre of the allowed bands.     

PT-symmetry breaking in resonant tunneling heterostructures

We present fermionic model based on symmetric resonant tunneling heterostructure, which demonstrates spontaneous symmetry breaking in respect to combined operations of space inversion (P) and time reversal (T). PT-symmetry breaking manifests itself in resonance coalescence (collapse of resonances). We show that resonant energies are determined by eigenvalues of auxiliary pseudo-Hermitian PT-invariant Hamiltonian.     

Resonant tunneling field-effect transistors

We report an experimental project to incorporate double-barrier tunnel structures into three-terminal devices. These devices have the negative-differential-resistance (NDR) features of the double barrier, and the added flexibility of a third controlling electrode. One way to make such a device involves the series combination of a double-barrier tunnel structure with a field-effect transistor. We have realized this concept in two types of devices, using samples grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The devices consist of a GaAsAl_xGa_1−xAs double-barrier tunneling heterostructure, the current through which is controlled by either an integrated vertical field-effect transistor or a planar metal-semiconductor field effect transistor. The voltage location and peak-to-valley current ratio of the NDR present in the source-drain circuit can be modulated with gate voltage. Experimental results for four samples are presented.