Industrial Innovations

Industrial Innovations

A Few-atom-scale Resonant Tunneling Diode with Electric Field Tunable Negative Differential Resistance

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Maryam Momeni
Majid Sanaeepur
Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Arak University, Arak, Iran
10.61882/jii.3.1.22
Abstract
Resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) operate on quantum mechanical phenomenon and are popularly known for exhibiting negative differential resistance (NDR) on their current-voltage characteristics. Here a nanoscale resonant tunneling diode with negative differential resistance characteristics has been proposed. The suggested diode features a monolayer atomic lattice similar to graphene's honeycomb lattice structure, composed of boron, nitrogen, and carbon atoms, and consists of only 18 atoms in total. The proposed device has a quasi-zero dimensional structure due to its ultra small dimensions and benefits from flexibility of two dimensional structures. The current-voltage characteristics of the diode have been obtained through quantum transport simulations using the non-equilibrium Green's function method with a tight-binding Hamiltonian approximation. The I-V characteristic of the proposed device clearly exhibits negative differential resistance behavior with a peak current of 215 picoamperes at a terminal voltage of 40 millivolts. Also it has also been demonstrated that the negative differential resistance characteristics of the diode can be accurately tuned by applying an electric field to the well region or by increasing the well length by multiples of the graphene lattice constant. RTDs possess fast-switching time due to the quantum tunnelling mechanism, which gives attention to ultra-fast switching circuits. In addition, the RTD circuit design is of lower complexity compared to implementing other devices in the same circuit design]. Another advantage of RTD is that a higher PVR not only reflects stronger NDR but also correlates with higher frequency, increased gain, and low power consumption, making RTD highly suitable for oscillators, switching circuits, and amplifiers.
Keywords
Resonant Tunneling Diode
Atomic Scale
Negative Differential Resistance
Electric Field
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  • Receive Date 02 August 2025
  • Revise Date 01 September 2025
  • Accept Date 02 September 2025