Direct and photon-assisted tunneling in resonant-cavity quantum-well light-emitting transistors

Junyi Qiu, Curtis Y. Wang, Milton Feng, N. Holonyak

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Tunneling in a transistor is a critical quantum process toward the next-generation, energy-efficient, high-speed data transfer for both electrical and optical communications. In this work, resonant-cavity quantum-well light-emitting transistors with tunneling collector junctions are designed and fabricated. Three distinctive tunneling mechanisms are clearly identified by the transistor optical output family curves, namely, electron direct tunneling (DT) from collector to base, electron DT from base to collector, and intra-cavity photon-assisted electron tunneling from base to collector. The device operations under both direct and photon-assisted tunneling are explained in detail by the intra-cavity quantum transition of electron-hole pair to photon dynamics. The tunnel junction and the corresponding carrier tunneling injection suggest the possibility of utilizing tunneling to achieve high-speed optoelectronics operations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number234501
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume124
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 21 2018
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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