Temperature Effects On AlGaAs/GaAs Double Barrier Diodes With High Peak-to-Valley Current Ratios

Abstract

Recent advances in Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) technology have made possible the fabrication of heterojunction double barrier diodes (DBDs) with high peak to valley current (PVC) ratios. Goodhue et a/[ l ] repotted PVC ratios of 3.5 (10.0) at 300K (77K) in an AIAs/GaAs system. More recently, we [2] have reported PVC ratios of 3.9 (14.3) at 300K (77K) in an AIGaAdGaAs (x-0.42) system and of 3.6 (21.7) at 300K (77K) in a DBD in which the barriers were replaced with short period AIAdGaAs superlattices. These results, along with the high speed characteristics of tunneling devices, indicate the DBD may soon find practical application. Additional studies are still needed to characterize the DBD conduction mechanisms and to optimize device design.