Effect of effective mass differences on the tunneling current-voltage behaviour of a resonant diode in the presence of space charge build-up

Abstract

A theoretical study of the effect of differences in effective masses for electrodes and well, on the characteristics of tunneling current against bias voltage, in the presence of charge build-up has been done. It is observed that balanced effective mass (i.e. m*t= m', where m' and m' ire the effective masses for electrode and well respectively, results in the normal expected behaviour of rising current with increased bias voltage. Whereas, a positive difference causes charge saturation and zero current change, while a negative difference invokes excess current flow