Digital devices based on tunnel-resonant transport of charge carriers in periodic Si/CaF2 nanostructures

Carrier traps in CaF2 used as a barrier material in Si/CaF2 quantum wells give rise to the resonant peak at current–voltage characteristics of the quantum well structures. They have been proposed for digital devices with two stable states employing high current at the resonant peak and low current in the subsequent valley as high and low signal levels. A dynamic memory unit and analog-to-digital converter have been designed. Their equivalent schemes are shown. Computer simulation of the electrical performance of these devices demonstrated them to operate at room temperature with the switching time of 10−9–10−12 s.