Transition times between the extremum points of the current–voltage characteristic of a resonant tunneling diode with hysteresis

Abstract

A numerical solution to the problem of transient processes in a resonant tunneling diode featuring a current–voltage characteristic with hysteresis is found for the first time in the context of a coherent model (based on the coupled Schrödinger and Poisson equations) taking into account the Fermi distribution of electrons. The transitions from the high-current to the low-current state and vice versa, which result from the existence of hysteresis and are of great practical importance for ultrafast switches based on resonant tunneling diodes, are studied in detail. It is shown that the transition times for such processes initiated by the application of a small voltage can significantly exceed the characteristic time ℏ/Γ (where G is the width of the resonance level). It is established for the first time that the transition time can be reduced and made as short as the characteristic time ℏ/Γ by applying a sufficiently high voltage. For the parameters of the resonant-tunnelingdiode structure considered in this study, the required voltage is about 0.01 V.