Interband Tunneling in 2D Crystal Semiconductors

TL;DR

This paper derives an analytical model for interband tunneling currents in 2D crystal semiconductors, highlighting their potential for low-energy tunneling transistors and comparing their behavior with traditional 3D semiconductors.

Contribution

It provides the first analytical expression for tunneling currents in 2D semiconductors, facilitating device design and understanding of tunneling phenomena in these materials.

Findings

Analytical expression for tunneling current in 2D semiconductors

Comparison of tunneling behavior between 2D and 3D semiconductors

Implications for low-energy tunneling transistor design

Abstract

Interband quantum tunneling of electrons in semiconductors is of intense recent interest as the underlying transport mechanism in tunneling field-effect transistors. Such transistors can potentially perform electronic switching with lower energy than their conventional counterparts. The recent emergence of 2-dimensional semiconducting crystals provides a new material platform for realizing such devices. In this work, we derive an analytical expression for understanding tunneling current flow in 2D crystal semiconductors. We apply the results to a range of 2D crystal semiconductors, and compare it with tunneling currents in 3D semiconductors. We also discuss the implications for tunneling devices.