Impact of Al content on InAs/AlSb/Al(x)Ga(1−x)Sb tunnelling diode

• Main Authors: Yuping Zeng, Chingyi Hsu, Edward Yi Chang, Chenming Hu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2017-06-01
• Series: The Journal of Engineering
• Subjects: tunnel diodes; semiconductor doping; indium compounds; aluminium compounds; semiconductor doping levels; diode barrier thicknesses; negative differential region; quantised layer; epitaxial layers; peak-to-valley ratio; tunnelling diode; InAs-AlSb-Al(x)Ga(1−x)Sb
• Online Access: http://digital-library.theiet.org/content/journals/10.1049/joe.2017.0248
• ISSN: 2051-3305

A method to engineer the peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) by design of the epitaxial layers is presented. The impact of Al content on PVR of InAs/AlSb/Al(x)Ga(1−x)Sb tunnelling diode is studied. A simplified analytical model is used to explain the PVRs dependence on Al content. It was found that PVR reaches its maximum when Al content x is zero with a quantised InAs layer. The peak positions appeared in the negative differential region are effectively controlled by the applied gate bias. A PVR ratio as high as 7.1 was achieved, which is beneficial for a wide range of circuit applications. Adjusting Al content provides a new way to engineer the PVR as opposed to the conventional way of being optimised by varying barrier thicknesses or doping levels.