Smooth Quantum Hydrodynamic Model vs. NEMO Simulation of Resonant Tunneling Diodes

Abstract

The smooth quantum hydrodynamic model is an extension of the classical hydrodynamic model for semiconductor devices which can handle in a mathematically rigorous way the discontinuities in the classical potential energy which occur at heterojunction barriers in quantum semiconductor devices. Smooth QHD model simulations of the current-voltage curves of resonant tunneling diodes are presented which exhibit negative differential resistance—the experimental signal for quantum resonance effects—and are compared with the experimentally verified current-voltage curves predicted by the simulator NEMO, which uses a non-equilibrium Green function method.