Nonlinear operation of a finite-size tunnel junction between 2D electron systems

✍ Scribed by O.E. Raichev; F.T. Vasko

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 99 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0749-6036
• DOI: 10.1006/spmi.1996.0486

✦ Synopsis

A nonlinear regime of electron tunneling into double quantum wells with independent contacts to each well is investigated theoretically. The nonlinear current-voltage response in these systems takes place when the voltage V applied to the contacts exceeds the tunneling resonance width. It is found that such a nonlinearity acquires essentially new features when the length of the tunneling area is comparable with the square root of the ratio of the averaged in-plane conductivity of the electrons to the resonance tunneling conductance. Under these conditions, the local interlayer voltage v does not coincide with V and depends on the in-plane coordinate x. The local tunneling conductance also depends on x in the nonlinear regime. This dependence creates a positive feedback, which leads to a bistable behavior of the system (two stable patterns of the local voltage at a fixed V ). The bistability is reflected by Z -like regions of the current-voltage characteristics.