Resonant tunnelling through a symmetric double well
- 30 September 1985
- journal article
- Published by IOP Publishing in Journal of Physics C: Solid State Physics
- Vol. 18 (27) , L879-L883
- https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3719/18/27/007
Abstract
The total resonant tunnel current through a double-well structure is calculated. Remarkably, the current is found to increase as the widths of the outer potential barriers increase until a maximum value is attained when the widths of the outer barriers are half the width of the barrier between the potential wells. The double well is the simplest system in which resonant tunnelling involves coupling between two localised energy levels in addition to couplings between the continuum of energies in the electrodes and discrete energy levels in the potential wells so it serves as a model for tunnelling through superlattices. The results reveal the importance of including the effect of the coupling between the quantum wells and the electrodes when optimising the performance of superlattice tunnelling devices.Keywords
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