A new transit-time device using quantum-well injection

Abstract

The use of such techniques as molecular beam epitaxy has allowed the fabrication of devices in which tunneling is the dominant transport mechanism. In this paper a new transit-time device which uses resonant tunneling through a quantum well is proposed and analyzed. Depending on the bias level, this device may permit injection of carriers into the drift region at more favorable phase angles (hence higher efficiencies) than other transit-time devices. The device promises low noise performance and should be capable of operating at high millimeter-wave frequencies with higher output power than other transit-time devices or pure quantum-well oscillators. Since the device uses quantum-well injection and transit-time effects, it is called a QWITT diode.