TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE OF THE RESONANT-TUNNELING PROCESS IN A DOUBLE-BARRIER DIODE

We use differential absorption spectroscopy to study experimentally the temperature dependence of the accumulated charge and transit time in a double-barrier resonant-tunneling diode. We find that both are approximately constant over a broad temperature range (10 K < T < 300 K). We show that the electrons experience inelastic-scattering events while they cross the structure, and that they are thermalized with the lattice at that temperature range. We discuss these results in the context of present models of resonant tunneling.