Electronic properties of symmetric and asymmetric quantum-well electron barrier diodes

Abstract

The quantum-well electron barrier diode is a device whose current-voltage characteristic originates in the symmetry of the ground-state energies present in a sequence of quantum wells. In this paper, current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of the quantum-well electron barrier diode are presented for a number of symmetric and asymmetric configurations fabricated from samples grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. The data demonstrate that the symmetry of the quantum wells determines the symmetry of the I-V characteristic. The effect of doping on the C-V characteristic is also examined. It is shown how the effect of doping can be understood via a solution of Poisson’s equation at zero bias.