High Current Density 2D/3D Esaki Tunnel Diodes

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Krishnamoorthy, Sriram, Lee, Edwin W, Lee, Choong Hee, Zhang, Yuewei, McCulloch, William D, Johnson, Jared M, Hwang, Jinwoo, Wu, Yiying, Rajan, Siddharth
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 02.06.2016
• Subjects: Bias; Current density; Diodes; Electrostatics; Gallium nitrides; Heterojunctions; High current; Lattice matching; Molybdenum disulfide; Niobium; Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; Physics - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics; Transition metal compounds; Tunnel diodes; Tunnel junctions; Two dimensional materials
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1606.00509

The integration of two-dimensional materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides with bulk semiconductors offer interesting opportunities for 2D/3D heterojunction-based novel device structures without any constraints of lattice matching. By exploiting the favorable band alignment at the GaN/MoS2 heterojunction, an Esaki interband tunnel diode is demonstrated by transferring large area, Nb-doped, p-type MoS2 onto heavily n-doped GaN. A peak current density of 446 A/cm2 with repeatable room temperature negative differential resistance, peak to valley current ratio of 1.2, and minimal hysteresis was measured in the MoS2/GaN non-epitaxial tunnel diode. A high current density of 1 kA/cm2 was measured in the Zener mode (reverse bias) at -1 V bias. The GaN/MoS2 tunnel junction was also modeled by treating MoS2 as a bulk semiconductor, and the electrostatics at the 2D/3D interface was found to be crucial in explaining the experimentally observed device characteristics.