Tunneling current of the Coulomb-coupled quantum dots embedded in n–n junction

Abstract

Taking account of the electron–electron (hole) and electron–hole interactions, the tunneling processes of the main quantum dot (QD) Coulomb-coupled with a second quantum dot embedded in n–n junction have been investigated. The eighteen resonance mechanisms involved in the tunneling processes of the system have been identified. It is found that the tunneling current depends sensitively on the electron occupation number in the second quantum dot. When the electron occupation number in the second dot is tiny, both the tunneling current peaks and the occupation number plateaus in the main QD are determined by the intra-resonance mechanism. The increase of the electron occupation number in the second dot makes the inter-resonance mechanism participate in the transport processes. The competition between the inter and intra resonance mechanisms persists until the electron occupation number in the second dot reaches around unity, leading to the consequence that the inter-resonance mechanisms completely dominate the tunneling processes.