LIGHT-HOLE RESONANT-TUNNELING THROUGH A TENSILE-STRAINED GAASP QUANTUM-WELL

We report the demonstration of resonant tunneling of holes through an AlAs/GaAs0.7P0.3 double-barrier heterostructure. The tensile strain in the quantum well is large enough to reverse the order of the light-an d heavy-hole levels (the first light-hole level is the ground state), The I(V) characteristic of this structure is measured and compared to a standard AlAs/GaAs unstrained one, As expected, the peak current den sity of the first light-hole resonance and its peak-to-valley current ratio are enhanced (they reach 28 A/cm(2) and 3.4:1 at 15 K), Negative differential resistance is observed up to 250 K. (C) 1997 American In stitute of Physics.