Characteristics of electron transport through vertical double-barrier quantum-dot structures: Effects of symmetric and asymmetric variations of the lateral confinement potentials

Abstract

We report on a theoretical study of the electron transport through laterally-confined, vertical double-barrier resonant-tunneling (DBRT) structures, defined as one-dimensional (1D)-0D-1D systems, with a tunable lateral confinement. The current and the differential conductance of the systems are calculated and the influence caused by varying the lateral confinement on the device characteristics is investigated. Three representative systems are studied. First of all, a 1D-0D-1D device, symmetric with respect to the current flow, with a variable lateral confinement in the double-barrier quantum-well (DBQW) region, is investigated. This device would in an experimental setup correspond to the structure in which a thin, lateral metallic gate is placed in the DBQW region. Subsequently, calculations are performed for two asymmetric 1D-0D-1D devices, in which the strongest, but varying, lateral confinement is placed either in the collector or in the emitter region. In experiments, these two devices would correspond to the situations where a lateral metallic gate is positioned below or on top of the DBQW structure. The calculations predict several phenomena for the device characteristics. It is shown that as the lateral confinement increases, in addition to those normally observed current onsets and pinch-offs that move toward higher bias voltages, several current onsets and pinch-offs move towards lower bias voltages. These negative shifts of the current onsets and pinch-offs with increasing of the lateral confinement have so far not been expected for gated DBRT devices. It is also found that the threshold voltages, at which the current onsets and pinch-offs appear, depend strongly on the strength and position of the lateral confinement and on the Fermi levels in the collector and the emitter. The models that explain these predictions are presented and discussed.