Simulation of interference patterns in solid-state biprism devices

In this article, we present simulation results for the solid-state biprism, a recently proposed vertical ballistic electron wave interference device. The simulations are performed using a simple simulation method, similar to optical ray tracing. With it, the positions of the fringes are calculated faster than by a direct solution of the Schrodinger equation, and nonetheless it is demonstrated that the same fringe spacing is obtained as from the direct solution. Using this method, the interference for an arbitrary potential structure can be calculated, and in this article, results for the potential produced by three buried thin-metal electrodes are presented. It is shown that by applying voltages to the electrodes asymmetrically, the interference pattern can be swept over a single thin-detector electrode, and that it can in this way be detected experimentally. It is also demonstrated that a relatively large energy distribution of the injected hot electrons does not significantly degrade the performance of the device, whereas the influence of possible incident lateral k vectors must be reduced. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.