Energy and Effective Mass Dependence of Electron Tunnelling Through Multiple Quantum barriers in Different Heterostructures

TL;DR

This study investigates how barrier width, material properties, and electron energy influence electron tunneling in heterostructures using transfer matrix calculations, highlighting the impact of effective mass variations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of electron tunneling considering effective mass differences and barrier scaling across various heterostructures using a unified transfer matrix approach.

Findings

Barrier width reduction enhances tunneling probability.

Material-dependent effective mass significantly affects transmission.

Coupling effects alter electron transmission in heterostructures.

Abstract

Tunneling of electrons through the barriers in heterostructures has been studied, within unified transfer matrix approach. The effect of barrier width on the transmission coefficient of the electrons has been investigated for different pairs of semi conducting materials that are gaining much importance recently. These pairs include CdS/CdSe, AlGaAs/GaAs and InAs/AlSb. Barrier dimensions have been reduced from 20nm to 5nm to observe the effect of scaling on tunneling properties. Material depended is highlighted for electrons with energy varying from below the barrier height to above it. The electron effective mass inside the barrier and the well are often different. The results show that the coupling effect leads to significant changes on the transmission effect. . The effective-mass dependant transmission coefficient has been plotted with respect to electron energy. The computation is based on the transfer matrix method by using MATLAB.