Role of carrier equilibrium in self-consistent calculations for double barrier resonant diodes

Abstract

We describe self-consistent calculations for the current-voltage characteristics of double barrier resonant tunneling diodes using two models representing extreme limits for the carrier equilibrium conditions outside the double barriers. We show that for SiGe double barrier diodes the model of Ohnishi et al. 1 clearly gives closer agreement with experiment while for AlAs GaAs structures the model of Cahay et al. 2 is more appropriate. Comparison of the two models gives insight into the role of scattering and thermal equilibrium in the regions adjacent to the double barrier in determining the current-voltage characteristics of these devices. The existence of an intrinsic bistability for these self-consistent calculations is confirmed.