Electron-state lifetimes in submicron diameter resonant tunneling diodes

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Abstract
We have investigated the lifetimes of electron states in the quantum wells of GaAs-AlGaAs resonant tunneling diodes with diameters down to 200 nm, as a function of the barrier thickness. The times were extracted from the magnitude of steps observed in the current-voltage characteristics, a quantum effect which reflects the quasi-one-dimensional electron transport in these devices. We find very good agreement between the experimental lifetimes, and those calculated using data from transmission electron microscopy. It is also shown that the total scattering time does not correlate with the barrier thickness and is much smaller than the electron-state lifetime.