. (2018) Epitaxial designs for maximizing efficiency in resonant tunnelling diode based terahertz emitters.

We report valley current characterisation of high current density InGaAs/AlAs/InP resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) grown by metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) for THz emission, with a view to investigate the origin of the valley current and optimize device performance. By applying a dual-pass fabrication technique, we are able to measure the RTD I-V characteristic for different perimeter/area ratios, which uniquely allows us to investigate the contribution of leakage current to the valley current and its effect on the PVCR from a single device. Temperature dependent (20 – 300 K) characteristics for a device are critically analysed and the effect of temperature on the maximum extractable power (PMAX) and the negative differential conductance (NDC) of the device is investigated. By performing theoretical modelling, we are able to explore the effect of typical variations in structural composition during the growth process on the tunnelling properties of the device, and hence the device performance.

Abstract-We discuss the numerical simulation of high current density InGaAs/AlAs/InP resonant tunneling diodes with a view to their optimization for application as THz emitters. We introduce a figure of merit based upon the ratio of maximum extractable THz power and the electrical power developed in the chip. The aim being to develop high efficiency emitters as output power is presently limited by catastrophic failure. A description of the interplay of key parameters follows. We propose an optimized structure utilizing thin barriers paired with a comparatively wide quantum well.

We present an advanced nondestructive characterization scheme for high current density AlAs/InGaAs resonant tunneling diodes pseudomorphically grown on InP substrates. We show how low-temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy (LT-PL) and high-resolution X-ray diffractometry (HR-XRD) are complementary techniques to increase the confidence of the characterized structure. The lattice-matched InGaAs is characterized and found to be of high quality. We discuss the inclusion of an undoped "copy" well (C-well) in terms of enhancements to HR-XRD and LT-PL characterization and quantify the improved precision in determining the structure. As a consequence of this enhanced precision in the determination of physical structure, the AlAs barriers and quantum well (QW) system are found to contain nonideal material interfaces. Their roughness is characterized in terms of the full width to half-maximum of the split LT-PL emission peaks, revealing a ±1 atomic sheet variance to the QW width. We show how barrier asymmetry can be detected through fitting of both optical spectra and HR-XRD rocking curves.

Resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) provide high speed current oscillation which is applicable to THz generation when coupled to a suitably designed antenna. For this purpose, the InGaAs/AlAs/InP materials have been used, as this system offers high electron mobility, suitable band-offsets, and low resistance contacts. However for high current density operation (~MA/cm 2 ) the epitaxial structure is challenging to characterize using conventional techniques as it consists of a single, very thin AlAs/InGaAs quantum well (QW). Here, we present a detailed low temperature photoluminescence spectroscopic study of high current density RTDs that allow the non-destructive mapping of a range of critical parameters for the device. We show how the doping level of the emitter/collector and contact layers in the RTD structure can be measured using the Moss-Burstein effect. For the full device structure, we show how emission from the QW may be identified, and detail how the emission changes with differing indium composition and well widths. We show that by studying nominally identical, un-doped structures, a type-II QW emission is observed, and explain the origin of the type-I emission in doped devices. This observation opens the way for a new characterization scheme where a "dummy" RTD active element is incorporated below the real RTD structure. This structure allows significantly greater control in the epitaxial process.