MoS_(2)/Si tunnel diodes based on comprehensive transfer technique

Due to the pristine interface of the 2D/3D face-tunneling heterostructure with an ultra-sharp doping profile, the 2D/3D tunneling field-effect transistor(TFET) is considered as one of the most promising low-power devices that can simultaneously obtain low off-state current(IOFF), high on-state current(ION) and steep subthreshold swing(SS). As a key element for the 2D/3D TFET, the intensive exploration of the tunnel diode based on the 2D/3D heterostructure is in urgent need.The transfer technique composed of the exfoliation and the release process is currently the most common approach to fabricating the 2D/3D heterostructures. However, the well-established transfer technique of the 2D materials is still unavailable.Only a small part of the irregular films can usually be obtained by mechanical exfoliation, while the choice of the chemical exfoliation may lead to the contamination of the 2D material films by the ions in the chemical etchants. Moreover, the deformation of the 2D material in the transfer process due to its soft nature also leads to the nonuniformity of the transferred film,which is one of the main reasons for the presence of the wrinkles and the stacks in the transferred film. Thus, the large-scale fabrication of the high-quality 2D/3D tunnel diodes is limited. In this article, a comprehensive transfer technique that can mend up the shortages mentioned above with the aid of the water and the thermal release tape(TRT) is proposed. Based on the method we proposed, the MoS_(2)/Si tunnel diode is experimentally demonstrated and the transferred monolayer MoS_(2) film with the relatively high crystal quality is confirmed by atomic force microscopy(AFM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), and Raman characterizations. Besides, the prominent negative differential resistance(NDR) effect is observed at room temperature, which verifies the relatively high quality of the MoS_(2)/Si heterojunction. The bilayer MoS_(2)/Si tunnel diode is also experimentally fabricated by repeating the transfer process we proposed, followed by the specific analysis of the electrical characteristics. This study shows the advantages of the transfer technique we proposed and indicates the great application foreground of the fabricated 2D/3D heterostructure for ultralow-power tunneling devices.

Impact of the Negative Resistance on the Characteristics of a Tunnel Diode-Inductive Circuit

The I-V diagram of a tunnel diode inherits a voltage range corresponding to a specific current domain with a negative slope. Within this range, the electric resistance is negatively impacting the characteristics of the electric circuits. One such circuit containing a tunnel diode in series with an inductor driven by a DC source is considered. The negative resistance significantly alters the characteristics of the circuit. In this research-oriented project, we unveil these characteristics comparing them to the classic inductive circuit with an ohmic resistor. This project stems from our previous work [1] and may be considered an application of the tunnel diode embodying unseen surprises. The circuit analysis is entirely based on utilizing a Computer Algebra System (CAS) specifically Mathematica. Without a CAS, the completion of the project wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

Development of a simple two-step lithography fabrication process for resonant tunneling diode using air-bridge technology

This article reports on the development of a simple two-step lithography process for double barrier quantum well(DBQW)InGaAs/AlAs resonant tunneling diode(RTD)on a semi-insulating indium phosphide(InP)substrate using an air-bridge technology.This approach minimizes processing steps,and therefore the processing time as well as the required resources.It is particularly suited for material qualification of new epitaxial layer designs.A DC performance comparison between the proposed process and the conventional process shows approximately the same results.We expect that this novel technique will aid in the recent and continuing rapid advances in RTD technology.

InP/GaInP nanowire tunnel diodes

Semiconductor nanowire （NW） solar cells with a single p-n junction have exhibited efficiency comparable to that of their planar counterparts with a substantial reduction in material consumption. Tandem geometry is a path toward the fabrication of devices with even higher efficiencies, for which a key step is the fabrication of tunnel （Esaki） diodes within NWs with the correct diameter, pitch, and material combination for maximized efficiency. InP/GaInP and GaInP/InP NW tunnel diodes with band gap combinations corresponding to high-efficiency solar energy harvesting were fabricated and their electrical characteristics and material properties were compared. Four different configurations, with respect to material composition and doping, were investigated. The NW arrays were grown with metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy from Au particles by use of nano-imprint lithography, metal evaporation and lift-off. Electrical measurements showed that the NWs behave as tunnel diodes in both InP （bottom）/GaInP （top） and GaInP （bottom）/InP （top） configurations, exhibiting a maximum peak current density of 25 A/cm^2, and maximum peak to valley current ratio of 2.5 at room temperature. The realization of NW tunnel diodes in both InP/GaInP and GaInP/InP configurations represent an opportunity for the use of NW tandem solar cells, whose efficiency is independent of the growth order of the different materials, increasing the flexibility regarding dopant incorporation polarity.

Fabrication of an AlAs/In_(0.53)Ga_ ( 0.47)As/InAs Resonant Tunneling Diode on InP Substrate for High-Speed Circuit Applications

A high performance AlAs/In0.53 Ga0.47 As/InAs resonant tunneling diode （RTD） on InP substrate is fabricated by inductively coupled plasma etching. This RTD has a peak-to-valley current ratio （PVCR） of 7. 57 and a peak current density Jp = 39.08kA/cm^2 under forward bias at room temperature. Under reverse bias, the corresponding values are 7.93 and 34.56kA/cm^2 . A resistive cutoff frequency of 18.75GHz is obtained with the effect of a parasitic probe pad and wire. The slightly asymmetrical current-voltage characteristics with a nominally symmetrical structure are also discussed.

Design and Realization of Resonant Tunneling Diodes with New Material Structure

A new material structure with Al 0.22Ga 0.78As/In 0.15Ga 0.85As/GaAs emitter spacer layer and GaAs/In 0.15- Ga 0.85As/GaAs well for resonant tunneling diodes is designed and the corresponding device is fabricated.RTDs DC characteristics are measured at room temperature. Peak-to-valley current ratio and the available current density for RTDs at room temperature are computed.Analysis on these results suggests that adjusting material structure and optimizing fabrication processes will be an effective means to improve the quality of RTDs.

Comparison and Analysis of Two Microwave Equivalent-Circuit Models for Resonant Tunneling Diode

The distinction between two microwave equivalent-circuit models,quasi Esaki tunneling model (QETM) and quantum well injection transit model (QWITM),for the resonant tunneling diode (RTD) is discussed in details,and two groups of circuit parameters are extracted from experiment data by the least square fit method.Both theory analysis and the comparison of fit results demonstrate that QWITM is much more precise than QETM.In addition,the rationality of QWITM circuit's parameters confirms it too.On this basis,the resistive frequency is calculated,whose influence factors and improvement method are simply discussed as well.

A novel micro-accelerometer with adjustable sensitivity based on resonant tunnelling diodes

Resonant tunnelling diodes （RTDs） have negative differential resistance effect, and the current-voltage characteristics change as a function of external stress, which is regarded as mesc-piezoresistance effect of RTDs. In this paper, a novel micro-accelerometer based on AlAs/GaAs/In0.1Ga0.9As/GaAs/AlAs RTDs is designed and fabricated to be a four-beam-mass structure, and an RTD-Wheatstone bridge measurement system is established to test the basic properties of this novel accelerometer. According to the experimental results, the sensitivity of the RTD based micro-accelerometer is adjustable within a range of 3 orders when the bias voltage of the sensor changes. The largest sensitivity of this RTD based miero-accelerometer is 560.2025 mV/g which is about 10 times larger than that of silicon based micro piezoresistive accelerometer, while the smallest one is 1.49135 mV/g.

Influence of spacer layer thickness on the current-voltage characteristics of pseudomorphic AlAs/In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As/InAs resonant tunnelling diodes

This paper investigates the dependence of current voltage characteristics of AlAs/In0.53Ga0.47As/InAs resonant tunnelling diodes （RTDs） on spacer layer thickness. It finds that the peak and the valley current density J in the negative differential resistance （NDR） region depends strongly on the thickness of the spacer layer. The measured peak to valley current ratio of RTDs studied here is shown to improve while the current density through RTDs decreases with increasing spacer layer thickness below a critical value.

Nanoelectronic devices resonant tunnelling diodes grown on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy with peak to valley current ratio of 17 at room temperature

This paper reports that InAs/In0.53Ga0.47As/AlAs resonant tunnelling diodes have been grown on InP substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Peak to valley current ratio of these devices is 17 at 300K. A peak current density of 3kA/cm^2 has been obtained for diodes with AlAs barriers of ten monolayers, and an Ino.53Ga0.47As well of eight monolayers with four monolayers of InAs insert layer. The effects of growth interruption for smoothing potential barrier interfaces have been investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscope.

Comparison of resonant tunneling diodes grown on freestanding GaN substrates and sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy

AlN/GaN resonant tunneling diodes(RTDs)were grown separately on freestanding Ga N(FS-GaN)substrates and sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy(PA-MBE).Room temperature negative differential resistance(NDR)was obtained under forward bias for the RTDs grown on FS-GaN substrates,with the peak current densities(Jp)of 175-700 kA/cm^(2)and peak-to-valley current ratios(PVCRs)of 1.01-1.21.Two resonant peaks were also observed for some RTDs at room temperature.The effects of two types of substrates on epitaxy quality and device performance of GaN-based RTDs were firstly investigated systematically,showing that lower dislocation densities,flatter surface morphology,and steeper heterogeneous interfaces were the key factors to achieving NDR for RTDs.

Piezoelectric polarization and quantum size effects on the vertical transport in AlGaN/GaN resonant tunneling diodes

In this work,the electronic properties of resonant tunneling diodes（RTDs） based on GaN-AlxGa（1-x）N double barriers are investigated by using the non-equilibrium Green functions formalism（NEG）.These materials each present a wide conduction band discontinuity and a strong internal piezoelectric field,which greatly affect the electronic transport properties.The electronic density,the transmission coefficient,and the current–voltage characteristics are computed with considering the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations.The influence of the quantum size on the transmission coefficient is analyzed by varying GaN quantum well thickness,AlxGa1-xN width,and the aluminum concentration xAl.The results show that the transmission coefficient more strongly depends on the thickness of the quantum well than the barrier;it exhibits a series of resonant peaks and valleys as the quantum well width increases.In addition,it is found that the negative differential resistance（NDR） in the current–voltage（I–V） characteristic strongly depends on aluminum concentration xAl.It is shown that the peak-to-valley ratio（PVR） increases with xAlvalue decreasing.These findings open the door for developing vertical transport nitrides-based ISB devices such as THz lasers and detectors.

SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF RESONANT TUNNELING DIODES

Resonant tunneling diode （RTD） of AlAs/InGaAs/AlAs double barrier-single well structure was designed and fabricated. The devices showed current-voltage characteristics with peak-valley current ratio of 4 ： 1 at room temperature. The scattering parameter of RTD was measured by using an HP8510（C） network analyzer. Equivalent circuit parameters were obtained by curve fitting and optimized. The RTD switching time was estimated using the measured capacitance and average negative differential resistance. The minimum rise time of the sample was estimated to be 21 ps.

Spin injection in a ferromagnet/resonant tunneling diode heterostructure

The spin transport property of a ferromagnet （FM）/insulator （Ⅰ）/resonant tunneling diode （RTD） heterostructure was studied. The transmission coefficient and spin polarization in a multilayered heterostructure was calculated by a Schrdinger wave equation. An Airy function formalism approach was used to solve this equation. Based on the transfer matrix approach,the transmittivity of the structure was determined as a function of the Feimi energy and other parameters. The result shows that the spin polarization induced by the structure oscillates with the increasing Fermi energy of the FM layer. While the thickness of the RTD is reduced,the resonant peaks become broad. In the heterostructure,the spin polarization reaches as high as 40% and can be easily controlled by the external bias voltage.

A bistable, self-latching inverter by the monolithic integration of resonant tunnelling diode and high electron mobility transistor

This paper reports that the structures of AlGaAs/InGaAs high electron mobility transistor （HEMT） and AlAs/GaAs resonant tunnelling diode （RTD） are epitaxially grown by molecular beam epitaxy （MBE） in turn on a GaAs substrate. An Alo.24Gao.76As chair barrier layer, which is grown adjacent to the top AlAs barrier, helps to reduce the valley current of RTD. The peak-to-valley current ratio of fabricated RTD is 4.8 and the transconductance for the 1-μm gate HEMT is 125mS/mm. A static inverter which consists of two RTDs and a HEMT is designed and fabricated. Unlike a conventional CMOS inverter, the novel inverter exhibits self-latching property.

Monolithic Integration of GaAs-Based Resonant Tunneling Diode and High Electron Mobility Transistor

The resonant tunneling diode (RTD) is a kind of novel ultra-high speed and ultra-high frequency negative differential resistance nanoelectronic device. Integration of RTD and other three-terminal compound semiconductor devices is one important direction of high speed integrated circuit development. In this paper, monolithic integration technology of RTD and high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) based on GaAs substrate was discussed. A top-RTD and bottom-HEMT material structure was proposed and epitaxyed. Based on wet chemical etching, electron beam lithography, metal lift-off and air bridge technology, RTD and HEMT were fabricated on the same wafer. The peak-to-valley current ratio of RTD is 4 and the peak voltage is 0.5 V. The maximal transconductance is 120 mS/mm for a 0.25 μm gate length depletion mode HEMT. Current levels of two devices are basically suited. The results validate the feasibility of the designed integration process.

Electrically and Optically Bistable Operation in an Integration of a 1310 nm DFB Laser and a Tunneling Diode

We experimentally demonstrate an In P-based hybrid integration of a single-mode DFB laser emitting at around 1310 nm and a tunneling diode. The evident negative differential resistance regions are obtained in both electrical and optical output characteristics. The electrical and optical bistabilities controlled by the voltage through the tunneling diode are also measured. When the voltage changes between 1.46 V and 1.66 V, a 200-mV-wide hysteresis loop and an optical power ON/OFF ratio of 17 dB are obtained. A side-mode suppression ratio of the integrated device in the ON state is up to 43 dB. The tunneling diode can switch on/off the laser within a very small voltage range compared with that directly controlled by a voltage source.

Dependence of current-voltage characteristics of pseudomorphic AlAs/In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As/InAs resonant tunnelling diodes on quantum well widths

This paper studies the dependence of I - V characteristics on quantum well widths in AIAs/In0.53Ga0.47As and AIAs/In0.53Ga0.47As/InAs resonant tunnelling structures grown on InP substrates. It shows that the peak and the valley current density in the negative differential resistance region are closely related with quantum well width. The measured peak current density, valley current densities and peak-to-valley current ratio of resonant tunnelling diodes are continually decreasing with increasing well width.

Generation and Shaping of Soliton-Like Pulses along Resonant Tunneling Diodes NMOS Varactors Lattice

The characteristics of N-type accumulation-mode MOS (NMOS) varactors line periodically loaded with resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) are used for soliton-like pulses generation and shaping. The problem of wide pulse breaking up into multiple pulses rather than a single is solved. Applying perturbative analysis, we show that the dynamics of the nonlinear transmission line (NLTL) is reduced to expanded Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. Moreover, numerical integration of nonlinear differential and difference equations that result from the mathematical analysis of the line is discussed. As results, NLTL can simultaneously sharpen both leading and trailing of pulse edges and one could obtain a rising and sharpening step pulse.

RTD’s Relaxation Oscillation Characteristics with Applied Pressure

The relaxation oscillation characteristics of a resonant tunneling diode （RTD） with applied pressure are reported. The oscillation circuit is simulated and designed by Pspice 8. 0, and the measured oscillation frequency is up to 200kHz. Using molecular beam epitaxy （MBE） ,AIAs/lnx Ga1-x As/GaAs double barrier resonant tunneling structures （DBRTS） are grown on （100） semi-insulated （SI） GaAs substrate,and the RTD is processed by Au/Ge/Ni/Au metallization and an airbridge structure. Because of the piezoresistive effect of RTD,with Raman spectrum to measure the applied pressure, the relaxation oscillation characteristics have been studied, which show that the relaxation oscillation frequency has approxi- mately a - 17.9kHz/MPa change.