Resonant interband tunnel diodes with AlGaSb barriers

The peak current density of InAs/AlSb/GaSb/AlSb/InAs resonant interband tunneling diodes has been enhanced by replacing the AlSb barriers with Al1−xGaxSb that has a narrower band gap. The devices were grown by molecular beam epitaxy and tested at room temperature. Diodes with nominally identical 7-ML-thick ternary alloy barriers with x=0.35 are found to have peak current densities three times larger than those with AlSb barriers. The peak-to-valley current ratio decreases by only one third from 18 for the AlSb diodes to 12 for diodes with the ternary alloy barriers.