Illumination effect on switching performance of a triangular-barrier resonant-tunnelling diode

The illumination effect on switching performance is presented for a triangu lar-barrier resonant-tunnelling diode (TBRDT). A delta -doped quantum well is inserted into the centre of the TBRTD. Owing to the resonant tunnelling through the miniband in the quantum well, an N-shaped negative-differential -resistance phenomenon is observed in the current-voltage characteristics. The device shows a flexible optical function related to the cap-layer condu ctivity and a potential barrier height which can be changed by incident lig ht.