Interface roughness effects on the currents of resonant tunnelling hot electron transistor

Abstract

The effects of interface roughness on the resonant tunnelling hot electron transistor current are studied by calculating an average effective transmission coefficient for the quantum well structure. Our model for the transmission coefficient includes both quantum interference and bulk scattering. The interface roughness is represented by a rectangular distribution having the width of one atomic layer. The results indicate that the interface roughness will lower and broaden the resonant peak. The emitter peak tunnelling current, base current and collector current will be reduced by 50% at room temperature. The effect of interface roughness on the gain is relatively weak.