ABSTRACT
Resonant tunneling devices have received a great deal of attention because of their potential for high speed electronic devices. In this chapter, the authors report the operation of a novel three-terminal resonant tunneling device called a two-dimensional electron gas modulated resonant tunneling transistor (2-DMRTT). In the 2-DMRTT, the magnitude of a resonant tunneling characteristic is modulated by controlling the density of carriers in the emitter electrode of a double-barrier structure. The structure consists of a wide bandgap AlGaAs modulation-doped layer grown on top of a resonant tunneling device. The top electrode layer of the tunneling structure is undoped so that the two-dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) of the modulation doped structure forms the emitter electrode of the double-barrier structure and the source of this three-terminal device. A simple analysis of the device operation has shown that operation speeds in into the hundred GHz range are possible.
