N-polar GaN/AlN resonant tunneling diodes
Abstract
N-polar GaN/AlN resonant tunneling diodes are realized on a single-crystal N-polar GaN bulk substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy growth. The room-temperature current–voltage characteristics reveal a negative differential conductance (NDC) region with a peak tunneling current of 6.8 ± 0.8 kA/cm2 at a forward bias of ∼8 V. Under reverse bias, the polarization-induced threshold voltage is measured at ∼−4 V. These resonant and threshold voltages are well explained with the polarization field, which is opposite to that of the metal-polar counterpart, confirming the N-polarity of the resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). When the device is biased in the NDC-region, electronic oscillations are generated in the external circuit, attesting to the robustness of the resonant tunneling phenomenon. In contrast to metal-polar RTDs, N-polar structures have the emitter on the top of the resonant tunneling cavity. As a consequence, this device architecture opens up the possibility of seamlessly interfacing—via resonant tunneling injection—a wide range of exotic materials with III-nitride semiconductors, providing a route towards unexplored device physics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Oct 05, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.1063/5.0022143
Entities
People
- Debdeep Jena
- Huili Grace Xing
- Jimy Encomendero Risco
- Shao-Ting Ho
- Yong-Jin Cho
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Cornell University
- Division of Electrical, Communications & Cyber Systems
- Division of Materials Research
- Office of Naval Research
- Semiconductor Research Corporation