The methodology of simulating particle trajectories through tunneling structures using a Wigner distribution approach

The authors introduce a trajectory methodology to describe elementary space- and time-dependent events in a tunneling process in the resonant tunneling diode (RTD). A methodology for constructing quantum particle trajectories is presented. The trajectories for a RTD are presented and their behavior, as a function of scattering and self-consistency, is shown to be consistent with the steady-state current-voltage/quantum well electron density characteristics of the RTD, and with the response of the RTD to a sudden bias switch. The trajectories also exhibit a conservation-of-energy-like behavior. The trajectory formulation is thus shown to be potentially useful for incorporating into a multidimensional particle Monte Carlo simulation of quantum-based devices in which the tunneling region is small compared to the dimensions of the device