Experimental investigation of the temperature dependence of InAs-AlSb-GaSb Resonant Interband tunnel diodes

The temperature dependence of the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of InAs-AlSb-GaSb resonant interband tunnel diodes (RITDs) has been investigated from 223 to 423 K. Several device structures were examined, with tunnel barrier thicknesses from 0.6 to 2.0 nm. For all barrier thicknesses, the peak current density (J/sub p/) decreases slightly as the temperature is increased, while the valley current density (J/sub v/) increases with temperature. We found that the temperature rate of change for the peak current density with temperature (/spl part/J/sub p///spl part/T) is nearly independent of barrier thickness, while J/sub v/ increases more rapidly for devices with thicker barriers. In addition, the peak voltage (V/sub p/) was found to be independent of temperature, regardless of barrier thickness. However, the valley voltage (V/sub v/) was observed to decrease with increasing temperature, with more rapid changes observed for RITDs with thicker barriers. Comparison of the temperature performance of RITDs with different barrier thicknesses shows that devices with thinner barriers have I-V characteristics that are less sensitive to temperature, as well as having larger peak and valley current density and voltage for the temperature range from 223 to 423 K. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the temperature dependence of the device characteristics of Sb-based RITDs as a function of barrier width.