FIELD AND THERMIONIC FIELD TRANSPORT IN ALUMINIUM GALLIUM ARSENIDE HETEROJUNCTION BARRIERS

A simplified model of electron transport by tunneling within a GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction is developed. The model is applied specifically to tunneling through a triangular barrier formed by the compositional grading of the AlGaAs region, but can in principle be extended to a range of barrier geometries encountered at heterojunction or metal/semiconductor interfaces. The experimental data for the current-voltage characteristics obtained for a range of temperatures from 77 K to 273 K are used to test the functional dependence obtained from calculations. Good agreement has been obtained between theory and experiment, thus confirming the usefulness of the simple model for device evaluation.