Submicrometer resonant tunnelling diodes fabricated by photolithography and selective wet etching

Abstract

A new process based on photolithography and selective wet etching has been used to fabricate small area resonant tunnelling diodes. The low-temperature current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of diodes with conducting widths less than 0.1 μm show additional peaks due to 1D lateral quantum confinement. We observe a pronounced asymmetry in I-V which we explain in terms of tunnelling from emitter states which have a different degree of lateral quantum confinement.