SELF-CONSISTENT MODEL OF A DOUBLE-BARRIER RESONANT-TUNNELING DIODE - DEPENDENCE OF INTRINSIC BISTABILITY ON STRUCTURAL PARAMETERS

A self-consistent model of the double-barrier resonant tunneling diode (RTD) that is based on the damped Fabry-Perot model and the hot-electron distribution approximation, is presented. Dependence of intrinsic bistability on structural parameters in the RTD has been investigated both analytically and numerically. It was found that intrinsic bistability increases while the extrinsic bistability that is due to the load line effect decreases with the barrier width. This difference may be used as a criterion to distinguish intrinsic bistability from the extrinsic bistability caused by the load line effect. It was found that intrinsic bistability is likely to be observed in a RTD, at low temperatures, with a thick barrier and low doping at the collector.