Effect of structural parameters on current-voltage properties of GaAs-based resonant tunneling diodes using device simulator

The resonant tunneling diode (RTD) was first introduced by Tsu and Esaki back in 1973. The RTD has a nano-meter scale dimension and is capable to operate in the terahertz range of frequency, thanks to its unique negative differential resistive (NDR) property. There are tons of potential of RTD capable to implement in many applications if the optimum scales and parameters of the RTD’s structure can be determined. Hence, this is the reason and purpose of this work being conducted. The effects of structural parameters of RTD are studied and analyzed. From the simulation results generated by the WinGreen simulator, the barrier layer thickness has exhibited to be the most performance-affective structural parameter for RTD, when compared to other parameters such as thicknesses of spacer and quantum-well layers, and doping concentration of emitter and collector layers. The highest peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) of InGaAs/AlAs RTD achieved is approximately 78.36 with its barrier layer thickness of 1.6 nm. For GaAs/AlAs RTD, the highest PVCR obtained is approximately 59.29 at 1.6 nm thick of its barrier layer.