By introducing a funnel-shape semiconductor channel to create an asymmetrical energy barrier profile, a type of nonlinear device has been proposed and simulated which is referred as planar barrier diode (pbd). An applied voltage v across a pbd provides different height of the barrier depending on the sign of v. This results in a nonlinear current-voltage characteristic that resembles a typical diode behavior and therefore it can be used in signal rectification. The intrinsic cut-off frequency obtained in the simulation of the p-type silicon pbd rectifier was ∼15 ghz.
