Effect of the nonparabolicity on the resonant lifetimes and resonant energies of symmetric GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs double barrier nanostructures

Abstract

We investigate the effect of nonparabolicity of the GaAs conduction band on the resonant lifetime and the associated lowest resonant energy for electrons tunneling through undoped symmetric GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs double barrier nanostructures. The effective mass theory is considered by employing the spatial and energy dependence of the effective masses for both well and barrier materials of the structure. It is found that, both resonant lifetime and the corresponding resonant energy are mainly affected by nonparabolicity, mass mismatch, and the aluminum content that controls the barrier height. The results of the present work showed a strong dependence of the resonant lifetime and the resonant energy on the barrier thickness and well width. Pronounced discrepancies are obtained between the results of the present work and other works which neglected the effects of the nonparabolicity and the mass mismatch. A good agreement is obtained in comparing the results of the present work with the experiment data.