Title :
Negative differential resistance in a resonant quantum wire structure
Author :
Weisshaar, Andreas ; Lary, Jenifer ; Goodnick, Stephen M. ; Tripathi, Vijai K.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR, USA
Abstract :
It is shown that the transmission characteristics of a semiconductor split-gate device with a double constriction exhibit resonant behavior similar to that in resonant-tunneling diodes (RTDs). The double constriction is modeled with cascaded quantum waveguides of different widths and analyzed by applying a mode-matching technique to the wave function at the discontinuities. At low temperature, the calculated current-voltage characteristics exhibit a region of negative differential resistance. Current-voltage characteristics are presented for different constriction widths and temperatures exhibiting peak-to-valley ratios of up to 4:1 which persist up to temperatures around 10 K.<>
Keywords :
negative resistance effects; semiconductor device models; semiconductor quantum wires; 0 to 10 K; I-V curves; cascaded quantum waveguides; current-voltage characteristics; double constriction; low temperature; mode-matching technique; negative differential resistance; peak-to-valley ratios; quantum waveguide structure mode matching; resonant behavior; resonant quantum wire structure; semiconductor split-gate device; transmission characteristics; wave function; wave function at discontinuities; Current-voltage characteristics; Resonance; Resonant tunneling devices; Semiconductor diodes; Semiconductor waveguides; Split gate flash memory cells; Temperature; Wave functions; Waveguide discontinuities; Wire;
Journal_Title :
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
