Dynamical instabilities and I-V characteristics in resonant tunneling through double-barrier quantum well systems - art. no. 075302

Based on our time-dependent numerical simulation results of a resonant tunn eling structure, a resonant tunneling theory for double-barrier quantum wel l systems (DBQWS's) is presented. The origin of intrinsic high-frequency cu rrent oscillation in DBQWS's, a long-time unsolved device physics problem. is explained, in terms of a time-dependent energy-level coupling model (TDE LCM) as the result of the coupling between the emitter quantum well and the main quantum well and the wave-corpuscle duality of electrons. The origin of the intrinsic high-frequency current oscillation in DBQWS's and that of the hyteresis and plateaulike structure in I-V curves are two different asp ects of the problem. A qualitative analysis of the creation of the hyteresi s and plateaulike structure in I-V curves is also given. The TDELCM sets th e foundation of the time-independent energy-level coupling model that was p resented in our recent paper [P. Zhao et al.. J. Appl. Phys. 87, 1337 (2000 )]. It presents insight into the whole process of resonant tunneling throug h a DBQWS.