MULTISTABILITY OF THE CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS IN DOPED GAAS-ALAS SUPERLATTICES

Electric-field domain formation in doped semiconductor superlattices l eads to sharp discontinuities in the current-voltage (I-V) characteris tic. The successive expansion of the high-field region with increasing bias voltage through the periodic heterostructure manifests itself in a regular sequence of stable current branches. The current shows a co mplex hysteretic behavior. We observe two, three, and more stable curr ent levels for fixed bias voltages. Calculations of the I-V characteri stic based on a microscopic model support the experimentally observed multistability. (C) 1994 American Institute of Physics.