The
diode heterostructures for ÒÍz devices
D. G. Pavelyev
1, A. P.Vasilev2,
V. A. Kozlov 1,3,
Yu. I. Koschurinov
1,
E .S. Obolensky1, S. V. Obolensky
1, V. M. Ustinov
4
1Lobachevsky
State University of Nizhni Novgorod
2 SHM R&E Center, RAS, Saint Petersburg
3IPM
RAS, Nizhni Novgorod
4Ioffe
Institute,
Saint Petersburg
The paper is received on on December
17, 2015, after correction - on
December 28, 2015
Abstract. Short
GaAs/AlAs superlattices with a small number of periods were
investigated theoretically and experimentally. The possibility of effective
application of the short superlattices in the frequency
range of terahertz radiation was ascertained. In this paper, the band
structures of the classical semiconductor superlattices with
number of periods more than hundred, and the short superlattices with
number of periods equal to 18 and 6, were considered. The current-voltage
characteristics of the superlattices were calculated by
Monte Carlo method. The high frequency properties of the
diode structures with a small area (1-2 micron 2) of the active
region of the superlattice were calculated. The transit time effects, the
resistance of ohmic contacts and the resistance of transition layers
were taking into account. The conditions (including number of periods) at which
the upper frequency limit of such structureswas maximized were determined. It
was found that the short superlattices exhibit significant
advantages over the long ones. The effective application of the short superlattices
for the frequency multiplier devices up to 8 THz and for the
high frequency receivers (harmonic mixers) up to 5.3 THz were experimentally
demonstrated for the first time
Key words: terahertz
radiation, superlattice, miniband, ballistic electron transport, harmonic
mixers.