Double-barrier resonant tunneling transport model

A semiquantum transport model for electron transport in the resonant tunneling diode (RTD) is presented. The total electrons tunneling through the RTD are partitioned into two parts. The first is the coherent tunneling electrons, which do not experience any scattering except by the barriers during tunneling. These electrons are described by the damped resonant tunneling model. The second is the incoherent tunneling electrons, which are the electrons scattered in the quantum well by the phonons, impurities, etc. The hot electron distribution, which is characterized by the effective Fermi energy μ_e and electron temperature T_e, is proposed to model the nonequilibrium distribution of the incoherent electrons in the well. The parameters μ_e and T_e can be uniquely determined by applying the energy conservation law and the particle conservation law to the incoherent electrons in the well. The incoherent electrons play a major role in the operation of the RTD. The capacitance of the RTD is investigated, based on the model and Poisson´s equation. Extensive numerical results are presented