Nonlinear electron transport properties and rectification effects in InAs/AlGaSb ballistic devices

The nonlinear electron transport properties and rectification effects in InAs/AlGaSb ballistic devices are reported. We fabricated InAs/AlGaSb three-terminal ballistic junction devices composed of three quantum wires, and characterised electron transport properties with scanning the voltage on the left branch while keeping the voltage on the right constant at 77 K and 300 K. In these structures, we observed clear nonlinearity in the output. voltage measured at the central branch, The nonlinear characteristics agreed well with a theoretical prediction. When the left branch is biased to a finite voltage V and the right to a voltage of -V (push-pull fashion), negative voltages appeared at the central branch regardless of the polarity of V. (C) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.