Resonant Tunneling in Semiconductors: Physics and Applications(277 NATO Science Series B:)

This book contains the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Resonant Tunneling in Semiconductors: Physics and Applications", held at Escorial, Spain, on May 14-18, 1990. The tremendous growth in the past two decades in the field of resonant tunneling in semiconductor heterostructures has followed, if not outpaced, the expansion wit­ nessed in quantum structures in general. Resonant tunneling shares also the multi­ disciplinary nature of that broad area, with an emphasis on the underlying physics but with a coverage of material systems on the one end and device applications on the other. Indeed, that resonant tunneling provides great flexibility in terms of materials and configurations and that it is inherently a fast process with obvious device impli­ cations by the presence of a negative differential resistance have contributed to the unrelenting interest in this field. These proceedings consist of 49 refereed articles; they correspond to both invited and contributed talks at the workshop. Because of the intertwinning nature of the subject matter, it has been difficult to subdivide them in well-defined sections. Instead, they are arranged in several broad categories, meant to serve only as guidelines of emphasis on different topics and aspects. The book starts with an introduction to res­ onant tunneling by providing a perspective of the field in the first article. This is fol­ lowed by discussions of different material systems with various band-structure effects.

Table of Contents:
A Perspective of Resonant Tunneling.- Materials and Band-Structure Effects.- Epitaxial Growth of Atomically Smooth GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs Interfaces for Resonant Tunneling.- MBE Growth of High Performance GaAs/GaAlAs and InGaAs/GaAlAs Double Barrier Quantum Well Structures for Resonant Tunneling Devices.- Tunneling in Polytype InAs/AlSb/GaSb Heterostructures.- Resonant Magnetotunneling in Type II Heterostructures.- Resonant Interband Tunneling.- Investigations on Resonant Tunneling and the Role of Interface Roughness Scattering in Quantum Wells.- Resonant Tunneling of Holes in Strained Layers—SiGe/Si.- Resonant Tunneling of Holes in the Envelope-Function Approximation.- Temperature Dependence of Peak to Valley Current Ratio in Resonant Tunneling Double Barriers.- Noise in Double-Barrier Resonant Tunneling Structures.- The Role of Zener-Tunneling in the Subband Structure of Narrow-Gap Semiconductors.- Band Structure Effects on Stark Levels and Real Space Electron Transfer in Perfect and Imperfect Quantum Wells and Superlattices.- Finite Fields and Intervalley Scattering in Resonant Tunneling Systems.- Pressure Dependence of Negative Differential Resistance in AlGaAs/GaAs Double Barrier Resonant Tunneling Devices up to 20 kbar.- Exciton, Hole and Electron Tunneling in Double Quantum Well Structures.- Studies on Tunneling Characteristics on Asymmetric GaAs/AlAs Double-Barrier Structures.- Phonon Emission Processes in (GaIn)As/(AlIn)As Double-Barrier Diodes.- Electron-Phonon Interaction in Resonant Tunneling Heterostructures.- Scattering and Dynamic Effects.- Scattering Processes, Coherent and Incoherent Transport in Resonant Tunneling Structures.- Quantum Coherence and Phase Randomization in Series Resistors.- Charge Buildup, Intrinsic Bistability and Energy Relaxation inResonant Tunneling Structures: High Pressure and Magnetic Field Studies.- Scattering Effects on Resonant Tunneling Structures.- Resonant and Scattering-Assisted Magnetotunneling.- Tunneling in Semiconductor Microstructures in the Presence of a Transverse Magnetic Field.- Dynamical Analysis of Resonant Tunneling in Presence of a Self Consistent Potential due to the Space Charge.- Feynman Path Integral Approach to Resonant Tunneling.- Tunneling Times for Resonant Structures.- Tranversal Time and Charge Accumulation in Double-Barrier Resonant Tunneling Structures.- Time-Resolved Resonant Tunneling between GaAs/Al0.35Ga0.65As Quantum Wells: A Coherent Process?.- Optical Detection of Resonant Tunneling: Measurement of Tunneling Times and Resonant Fields.- Picosecond Optical Studies of Switching in Resonant Tunneling Structures.- Frequency Dependence of Resonant Tunneling.- Multiple-Barrier and Low-Dimensional Systems.- Miniband Transport and Resonant Tunneling in Superlattices.- Transport in Superlattices: Observation of Negative Differential Conductance by Field Induced Localization and its Equivalence with the Esaki-Tsu Mechanism; Scattering Controlled Resonances in Superlattices.- Non-Thermal Occupation of Excited Subbands in Semiconductor Superlattices via Sequential Resonant Tunneling.- Hot Electron Transport in Superlattices.- Tunneling Studies of Low-Dimensional States.- Low-Dimensional Resonant Tunneling.- Resonant Tunneling from an Accumulation Layer: New Spectroscopy of 2D Electron Systems.- Non-Equilibrium Resonant Tunneling in Semiconductor Nanostructures.- Aspects of One Dimensional Transport Effects in Gallium Arsenide Heterojunction Structures.- Lateral Confinement Effects in the Electronic Properties of Double-Barrier Structures.- Resonances in Laterally Confined Systems: Quantum Point Contacts and Electron Emitting Sharp Tips.- Device Structures.- High-Frequency Oscillators Based on Resonant Tunneling.- High Frequency Model of Double-Barrier Resonant Tunneling.- Intersubband Absorption and Real Space Electron Transfer in GaAs Quantum Wells.- InAs/GaSb/A1Sb: The Material System of Choice for Novel Tunneling Devices.- Looking for High-Frequency Applications of Resonant Tunneling Diodes: Triggering.