# Coherent tunneling in an AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterojunction captured through an analogy with a MOS contact

## TL;DR

This paper uses an analogy with MOS contacts to analyze coherent tunneling in AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterojunctions, revealing their behavior as tunnel diodes rather than Schottky diodes, with implications for high-temperature electron transport.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel analogy-based method to determine the energy band diagram and demonstrates that these heterojunctions function as tunnel diodes through coherent tunneling, challenging traditional classifications.

## Key findings

- Heterojunctions exhibit coherent tunneling at room temperature.
- The system behaves as a tunnel diode, not a Schottky barrier diode.
- Energy band diagrams can be directly captured using the analogy.

## Abstract

Due to their wide band gaps, III-N materials can exhibit behaviors ranging from the semiconductor class to the dielectric class. Through an analogy between a Metal/AlGaN/AlN/GaN diode and a MOS contact, we make use of this dual nature and show a direct path to capture the energy band diagram of the nitride system. We then apply transparency calculations to describe the forward conduction regime of a III-N heterojunction diode and demonstrate it realizes a tunnel diode, in contrast to its regular Schottky Barrier Diode designation. Thermionic emission is ruled out and instead, a coherent electron tunneling scenario allows to account for transport at room temperature and higher.