Dynamics of phonon-assisted tunneling in a silicon degenerate pn junction

The charge distribution and junction voltage on an indirect-band-gap semiconductor tunnel junction (that is in parallel with a resistor and current source) were obtained by solution of the master equation. Expressions for the tunneling rate in a silicon degenerate pn junction are presented. Phonon-assisted tunneling permits relaxation of a requirement (that the external resistance be much larger than the resistance quantum) for the observation of single electron tunneling oscillations. Consequently, that process may enable observation of such oscillations in practical single junction circuits.