RESONANT-TUNNELING IN DOUBLE-BARRIER SEMICONDUCTOR NANOSTRUCTURES

The principles of operation of a double barrier resonant tunneling dio de (DBRTD) giving rise to negative differential conductivity effect ar e first reviewed. Next, the physics of resonant tunneling based on (i) the time-independent conventional approach and (ii) the time-dependen t quantum measurement approach, as applied to a DBRTD, is discussed. E xpressions for the resonant tunneling current densities through the ba rriers are then derived on the ideas of quantum measurement. Through t he well the current, however, flows by the conventional mechanism. The three current density magnitudes are found to be identical under reso nant conditions. Finally, an expression for the resonant tunneling cur rent density due to a group of incident electrons is derived.