Enhanced negative differential resistance in silicene double-barrier resonant tunneling diodes

Abstract

We investigate the transport properties of double-barrier resonant tunneling diodes based on silicene nanoribbons by means of transfer matrix method under the external electric field. It is found that the transmission shows resonance suppression (enhancement) under the positive (negative) bias. The spin-dependent and valley-dependent negative differential resistance (NDR) characteristics are found both in the symmetric and asymmetric structures. The influence of various factors on the I-V characteristics is analyzed, it is found that the NDR characteristics can be greatly enhanced by the structural parameters, Fermi energy, and band gap. What should be laid stress on is that the maximum peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) can reach up to 13 by regulating the band gap. Proposed structure here could be the base of other high-frequency electronics devices.