Monte Carlo study of dc and ac vertical electron transport in a single-barrier heterostructure

Abstract

Steady-state dc and large-signal ac vertical electron transport in a single barrier In0.53Ga0.47As/AlAs/In0.53Ga0.47 As structure is investigated by ensemble Monte Carlo simulations self-consistently coupled with the Poisson equation. The comparison of the calculated steady-state current-voltage characteristic with the experimental data indicates the strong influence of Gamma -X-Gamma resonant tunneling on the dc current-voltage characteristic of the In0.53Ga0.47As/AlAs/In0.53Ga0.47As structure. The Monte Carlo technique is applied for an evaluation of the capacitance-voltage characteristic of this structure. The calculated capacitance-voltage characteristic is compared with the corresponding experimental results. Frequency-dependent harmonic amplitudes are also evaluated from the calculated large-signal ac response.