Terahertz ballistic current oscillations for carriers with negative effective mass

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Abstract
It is shown that the stationary distribution of ballistic current carriers moving across a thin doped base is unstable if there exists a negative effective mass (NEM) part in the carrier dispersion law. Under such a condition, a regime with a quasistationary current oscillations is established for a wide range of voltages across ballistic diode. The oscillation frequency and amplitude depend on the base length, doping concentration, and applied voltage. The current oscillations take place in a short-circuit regime (in absence of an external resonator). We consider asymmetric double quantum wells and/or composite ΓX quantum wells as possible structures allowing for the required dispersion relation with NEM part. Carrier dynamics in these structures are described quasiclassically and the validity of such a treatment is discussed.