Enhancing metal-insulator-insulator-metal tunnel diodes via defect enhanced direct tunneling

Step tunneling enhanced asymmetry in asymmetric electrode metal- insulator-insulator-metal tunnel diodes

Step tunneling enhanced asymmetry in metal-insulator-insulator-metal (MIIM) diodes for rectenna applications

We combine nanolaminate bilayer insulator tunnel barriers (Al2O3/HfO2, HfO2/Al2O3, Al2O3/ZrO2) deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) with asymmetric work function metal electrodes to produce MIIM diodes with enhanced I-V asymmetry and non-linearity. We show that the improvements in MIIM devices are due to step tunneling rather than resonant tunneling. We also investigate conduction proces...

Impact of electrode roughness on metal-insulator-metal tunnel diodes with atomic layer deposited Al2O3 tunnel barriers

Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) tunnel diodes on a variety of high and low work function metals with various levels of root-mean-square roughness are fabricated using high quality atomic layer deposited Al2O3 as the insulating tunnel barrier. It is found that electrode surface roughness can dominate the current versus voltage characteristics of MIM diodes, even overwhelming the impact of metal work...

Demonstration of an amorphous carbon tunnel diode

Negative differential conductance in metal/amorphous nitrogenated carbon a-CNx /Si structures is demonstrated at room temperature. These metal-insulator-semiconductor tunnel diodes are fabricated by optimizing the tunnel barrier at the a-CNx /Si junction through the control of the band gap and nitrogen doping level in carbon where this a-C layer acts as a semi-insulator. A small electron tunnel...

Pinholes may mimic tunneling

Interest in magnetic-tunnel junctions has prompted a re-examination of tunneling measurements through thin insulating films. In any study of metal-insulator-metal trilayers, one tries to eliminate the possibility of pinholes (small areas over which the thickness of the insulator goes to zero so that the upper and lower metals of the trilayer make direct contact). Recently, we have presented exp...