Current–voltage characteristics through GaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs heterobarriers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

Current–voltage characteristics of GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs /GaAs heterobarriers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition were investigated for x from 0.32 to 0.46. Calculation of the current, which included just two components—a tunneling component and a thermionic component—agreed well with experimental results. The tunneling effective mass used is the same as the Γ point effective mass when x is 0.32; this value allows the calculated results to fit the experimental data. The tunneling effective mass becomes much larger than the Γ point mass as x increases. This fact suggests that the other band edge X participates in the tunneling process, making the effective mass larger as it approaches the Γ point edge. The barrier heights deduced from I–V and I–T relations are in good agreement. The results support a ratio of 60%–65% of AlGaAs/GaAs conduction-band discontinuity to the total band-gap difference.