PHOTOCONTROLLED DOUBLE-BARRIER RESONANT-TUNNELING DIODE

A photocontrolled InGaAs/AlAs double-barrier resonant-tunneling diode, for the first time, has been demonstrated. The photoinduced valley cu rrent in the resonant-tunneling diode was optically controlled by vary ing the incident optical power level. With the incident optical power intense enough, the photogenerated valley current became dominant over the peak current. As a consequence, the negative differential resista nce of the device was nullified. A photogeneration process, based on p hotogenerating carriers in the depletion region adjacent to the double barriers, is described and characterized. The device under illuminati on was modeled as a resonant-tunneling diode in series integration wit h a photodetector. The quantum efficiency for the photogeneration was measured and found comparable with theoretical prediction. The demonst rated photocontrolled double-barrier resonant-tunneling diode can be u seful in a variety of applications.