Tunnelling and hot electron effects in single barrier [formula omitted] heterostructure devices

• Published in: Superlattices and microstructures 1986, Vol.2 (1), p.49-55
• Main Authors: Eaves, L., Guimaraes, P.S.S., Snell, B.R., Sheard, F.W., Taylor, D.C., Toombs, G.A., Portal, J.C., Dmowski, L., Singer, K.E., Hill, G., Pate, M.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0749-6036; 1096-3677
• DOI: 10.1016/0749-6036(86)90153-9

Experimental investigations of the effect of hydrostatic pressure (up to 15 kilobar) and magnetic field (up to 11 T) on the low temperature J(V) characteristics of single barrier n +GaAs/(AlGa)As/n −GaAs/n +GaAs tunnelling structures are reported. The pressure dependence is accurately described by the effective mass/WKB model up to 10 kilobar. At higher pressure the observed breakdown of the model indicates the onset of band structure effects associated with the higher conduction band minima. The reduction of the tunnelling current in an applied magnetic field is discussed in terms of the effect of the diamagnetic energy in increasing the effective height of the barrier. The paper reviews recent models that have been proposed to explain the origin of the oscillatory structure of period ΔV = ↔hω L/e observed in the low temperature reverse bias J(V) characteristics.