PACS: 85.30.Mn, 85.30.Kk

Current instabilities in resonant tunnelling diodes based on GaN/AlN heterojunctions
A.E. Belyaev1, 4, C.T. Foxon1, S.V. Novikov1, O. Makarovsky1, L. Eaves1, M.J. Kappers2, J.S. Barnard2, C.J. Humphreys2, S.V. Danylyuk3, S.A. Vitusevich3, A.V. Naumov4

1School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
2Dept. of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK
3Institute fur Schichten und Grenzflachen and CNI-Center of Nanoelectronic Systems for Information Technology, Forschungszentrum Julich, Julich 52425, Germany
4V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
41, prospect Nauky, 03028 Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract. Present paper studies double barrier resonant tunnelling diodes (DB-RTD) based on GaN/AlGaN heterostructures, grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). Tunnel (current-voltage, I–V) and capacitance (capacitance-voltage, C–V) spectroscopy measurements were performed at the temperature range from 4.2 to 300 K. It has been found that measured characteristics of DB-RTD have complex nonlinear behavior and reveal the current discontinuities of I–V curves. The features can be explained by the existence of polarization fields and interface defects. These effects strongly influence on the potential profile of the DB-RTD heterostructures. To understand physics of the processes, numerical simulations of the given structures, using a model based on real-time Green’s functions, have been performed. Comparative analysis of experimental and numerical data showed that the current instability and nonlinearity of characteristics of the nitride based DB-RTD can be connected with trapping the electrons onto interfacial and dislocation states in these heterostructures.
Keywords: gallium and aluminium nitrides, heterostructure, resonant tunneling diode, capacitance and tunnelling spectroscopy.
Paper received 15.03.04; accepted for publication 17.06.04.

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