Influence of the Heterojunction Spacer on the Performance of AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN Resonant Tunneling Diodes

We report on a simulation for an aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN)/gallium nitride (GaN) resonant tunneling diode (RTD) with a step heterojunction emitter spacer (SHES) at room temperature. An SHES and low Al component barriers were introduced in to AlGaN/GaN RTDs to improve the electronic injection efficiency in to the emitter, reduce the transit time in the collector depletion region, and achieve lattice matching. The substitution of the emitter spacer for the SHES alters the dominant transport mechanism, increases the tunneling current, and restrains the thermionic current. As a result, the peak current was 1.683 A at 0.39 V and the peak-to-valley current difference was 0.93 A.