Microscopic model for sequential tunneling in semiconductor multiple quantum wells

Abstract

We propose a self-consistent microscopic model of vertical sequential tunneling through multiple quantum wells. The model includes a detailed description of the contacts, uses the transfer Hamiltonian for expressions of the current and it treats the Coulomb interaction within a mean-field approximation. We analyze the current density through a double well and a superlattice and study the formation of electric-field domains and multistability coming from the Coulomb interaction. Phase diagrams of parameter regions (bias and doping in the heterostructure and in the contacts, etc.ldots), where the different solutions exist, are given. © 1997 The American Physical Society.