Experimental demonstration of single peak IV characteristics in a novel resonant tunneling diode

Single peak IV characteristics are experimentally demonstrated by a novel resonant tunneling diode, a resonant tunneling pinch-off diode (RTPD), specially designed to make the coupling between the pinch-off effect and the resonant tunneling effect in the diode itself effective. RTPDs were fabricated using the InGaAs-AlAs-InAlAs material system grown by MBE on semi-insulating InP substrate. Device parameter (emitter width and collector thickness) dependence of the IV characteristics is investigated and compared with previously reported theory. Good agreement between them confirms that the mechanism that brings about the novel characteristics in the RTPD is the above mentioned coupling, and gives guidelines for achieving an RTPD with ideal single peak IV characteristics.