Barrier dependent electron tunneling lifetime in one-dimensional device structures

The tunneling times of electrons in one-dimensional potential structures were studied using a projected Green function (PGF) method. The approach was applied to cases with potentials with one barrier, two barriers, and three barriers at the right side of a quantum well where the electron is located at the initial time. Our results include the effects of well width and barrier thickness on the tunneling time, and also show the impact on the tunneling time of splitting a single barrier into more barriers. This study confirms not only the validity of the PGF method but also reveals the impact of the potential structure on the operation speed of resonant tunneling devices. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.