Tunneling in<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:math>-Type-GaAs-Pb Contacts under Pressure

Abstract

The effect of hydrostatic pressure (up to 17 kbar) on the characteristics of $n$-type-GaAs-Pb tunnel contacts has been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The shape of the background resistance $\frac{\mathrm{dV}}{\mathrm{dI}}$ is slightly modified and its magnitude changes exponentially with pressure as a result of the barrier-height increase. In spite of some absolute discrepancies, the theory is in good qualitative agreement with the experiments. The pressure coefficient of the superconducting gap and phonon energies have been measured and compare well with other reported values. No band-structure effect has been detected.