L-ELECTRON EFFECT IN ALAS-GAAS-ALAS DOUBLE-BARRIER STRUCTURES

This letter reports the theoretical study of the current-voltage chara cteristics of the AlAs-GaAs-AlAs double-barrier structure with a thin GaAs well and thin AlAs barriers at room temperature, within a third-n eighbor sp(3) bond-orbital model. We demonstrate that the tunneling cu rrent caused by the L-valley electrons gives a significant contributio n to the valley current at room temperature. Moreover, if the AlAs bar riers become thick enough (e.g., >3 nm), the tunneling current at room temperature may be dominated by the L electrons instead of Gamma elec trons. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.