Coaxial nanowire resonant tunneling diodes from non-polar AlN/GaN on silicon

Abstract

Resonant tunneling diodes are formed using AlN/GaN core-shell nanowire heterostructures grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy on n-Si(111) substrates. By using a coaxial geometry, these devices take advantage of non-polar (m-plane) nanowire sidewalls. Device modeling predicts non-polar orientation should enhance resonant tunneling compared to a polar structure, and that AlN double barriers will lead to higher peak-to-valley current ratios compared to AlGaN barriers. Electrical measurements of ensembles of nanowires show negative differential resistance appearing only at cryogenic temperature. Individual nanowire measurements show negative differential resistance at room temperature with peak current density of 5 × 105 A/cm2.