Disorder-assisted tunneling through a double-barrier structure

Abstract

We consider the effect of disorder on coherent tunneling of electrons through a double-barrier structure. When the disorder potential is treated in leading order we obtain a result with transparent physical consequences. The effect of interface roughness on resonant tunneling is shown to depend qualitatively on the location of the rough interface. Our results may help to explain the often observed asymmetry in the current-voltage characteristics of double-barrier structures.