Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Enrique Diez

Publications and source records attributed to Enrique Diez.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Effective Nonlinear Model of Resonant Tunneling Nanostructures

We introduce a model of a nonlinear double-barrier structure, to describe in a simple way the effects of electron-electron scattering while remaining analytically tractable. The model is based on a generalized effective-mass equation where a nonlinear local field interaction is introduced to account for those inelastic scattering phenomena. Resonance peaks seen in the transmission coefficient spectra for the linear case appear shifted to higher energies depending on the magnitude of the nonlinear coupling. Our results are in good agreement with self-consistent solutions of the Schrödinger and Poisson equations. The calculation procedure is seen to be very fast, which makes our technique a good candidate for rapid approximate analysis of these structures.

cond-mat↗

Nonlinear treatment of many-body effects in double-barrier resonant tunneling structures

We introduce a simple, solvable model of double-barrier resonant tunneling structure which includes the effects of electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering. The model is based on a generalized effective-mass equation where a nonlinear coupling is introduced to account for those inelastic scattering phenomena. The nonlinear term depends on one parameter which is the only constant in the model to be determined phenomenologically from experimental data. As an example of the application of the model, we discuss GaAs-Ga$_{1-x}$Al$_x$As double-barrier structures. When the nonlinear term is considered, a sideband is observed at an energy of the order of the LO phonon energy in GaAs in addition to and below the main transmission peak. Fitting of the computed spectrum to known experimental results allows to find the value of the nonlinear coupling. As a consequence, we can estimate the electron-phonon coupling from the shift of the main transmission peak in comparison to the linear resonant tunneling. We obtain good agreement with values coming from more sophisticated treatments, which supports our claim that the nonlinear term consistently includes electron-phonon effects. Finally, we use our simple model to study magnitudes of interest for applications, namely $I-V$ characteristics, which are shown to present two negative differential resistance peaks arising from the main transmission peak and the sideband.

cond-mat↗

Thomas-Fermi approach to resonant tunneling in delta-doped diodes

We study resonant tunneling in B-$δ$-doped diodes grown by Si-molecular beam epitaxy. A Thomas-Fermi approach is used to obtain the conduction-band modulation. Using a scalar Hamiltonian within the effective-mass approximation we demonstrate that the occurrence of negative differential resistance (NDR) only involves conduction-band states, whereas interband tunneling effects seem to be negligible. Our theoretical results are in very good agreement with recent experimental observations of NDR in this type of diodes.

cond-mat↗

Nonlinear Resonant Tunnelling Through Double Barrier Structures

We study resonant tunnelling through double-barrier structures under an applied bias voltage, in which nonlinearities due to self-interaction of electrons in the barrier regions are included. As an approximation, we concern ourselves with thin barriers simulated by $δ$-function potentials. This approximation allows for an analytical expression of the transmission probability through the structure. We show that the typical peaks due to resonant tunneling decrease and broaden as nonlinearity increases. The main conclusion is that nonlinear effects degrade the peak-to-valley ratio but improve the maximum operation frequency of the resonant tunnelling devices.

cond-mat↗

Quasi-Ballistic Electron Transport in Random Superlattices

We theoretically study electron transport in disordered, quantum-well based, semiconductor superlattices with structural short-range correlations. Our system consists of equal width square barriers and quantum wells with two different thicknesses. The two kinds of quantum wells are randomly distributed along the growth direction. Structural correlations are introduced by adding the constraint that one of the wells always appears in pairs. We show that such correlated disordered superlattices exhibit a strong enhancement of their dc conductance as compared to usual random ones, giving rise to quasi-ballistic electron transport. Our predictions can be used to demonstrate experimentally that structural correlations inhibit the localization effects of disorder. We specifically describe the way superlattices should be built and experiments should be carried out for that purpose.

cond-mat↗

Three-dimensional effects on extended states in disordered models of polymers

We study electronic transport properties of disordered polymers in the presence of both uncorrelated and short-range correlated impurities. In our procedure, the actual physical potential acting upon the electrons is replaced by a set of nonlocal separable potentials, leading to a Schrödinger equation that is exactly solvable in the momentum representation. We then show that the reflection coefficient of a pair of impurities placed at neighboring sites (dimer defect) vanishes for a particular resonant energy. When there is a finite number of such defects randomly distributed over the whole lattice, we find that the transmission coefficient is almost unity for states close to the resonant energy, and that those states present a very large localization length. Multifractal analysis techniques applied to very long systems demonstrate that these states are truly extended in the thermodynamic limit. These results reinforce the possibility to verify experimentally theoretical predictions about absence of localization in quasi-one-dimensional disordered systems.

cond-mat↗

Absence of localization and large dc conductance in random superlattices with correlated disorder

We study how the influence of structural correlations in disordered systems manifests itself in experimentally measurable magnitudes, focusing on dc conductance of semiconductor superlattices with general potential profiles. We show that the existence of bands of extended states in these structures gives rise to very noticeable peaks in the finite temperature dc conductance as the chemical potential is moved through the bands or as the temperature is increased from zero. On the basis of these results we discuss how dc conductance measurements can provide information on the location and width of the bands of extended states. Our predictions can be used to demonstrate experimentally that structural correlations inhibit the localization effects of disorder.

cond-mat↗