Calculation of current-voltage characteristics of gallium arsenide symmetric double-barrier resonance tunneling structures with allowance for the destruction of electron-wave coherence in quantum wells

Abstract

An approach that describes the effect of electron-wave coherence destruction in quantum wells of GaAs-based symmetric double-barrier resonance tunneling structures on their current-voltage characteristics is suggested. Electron scattering by polar optical phonons, ionized impurities, and surface roughness in quantum wells, as well as thermal fluctuations of particle energies, are analyzed as the major factors responsible for coherence destruction. Current-voltage characteristics of GaAs-based symmetric double-barrier resonance tunneling structures are calculated for three-, two-, and one-dimensional electron gas in the emitter and collector of the structure at different temperatures. © 2004 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".