A theoretical study of resonant tunneling characteristics in triangular double-barrier diodes

Resonant tunneling characteristics of triangular double-barrier diodes have been investigated systematically in this Letter, using Airy function approach to solve time-independent Schrödinger function in triangular double-barrier structures. Originally, the exact analytic expressions of quasi-bound levels and quasi-level lifetime in symmetrical triangular double-barrier structures have been derived within the effective-mass approximation as a function of structure parameters including well width, slope width and barrier height. Based on our derived analytic expressions, numerical results show that quasi-bound levels and quasi-level lifetime vary nearly linearly with the structure parameters except that the second quasi-level lifetime changes parabolically with slope width. Furthermore, according to our improved transmission coefficient of triangular double-barrier structures under external electric field, the current densities of triangular double-barrier diodes with different slope width at 0 K have been calculated numerically. The results show that the N-shaped negative differential resistance behaviors have been observed in current–voltage characteristics and current–voltage characteristics depend on the slope width.