skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Understanding resonant tunnel transport in non-identical and non-aligned clusters as applied to disordered carbon systems

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4898801· OSTI ID:22305840
 [1];  [1]
  1. Nano-Scale Transport Physics Laboratory, School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050 Johannesburg (South Africa)

We study the conductance spectra and the corresponding current-voltage characteristics of a set of three impurity clusters of different sizes arranged in the form of a scalene triangle and compare with the transport of their horizontal and vertical configurations. The tuning capability of resonant tunnelling features in a quantum dot device made of these non-aligned impurity clusters is demonstrated by re-distributing their diameters and inter-cluster distances in a systematic manner. By manipulating the inter-cluster coupling for a scalene triangular configuration, the transition of current-voltage curves from a step-like feature to a negative differential resistance can be produced. This process also yields conductance features for triangular configurations, which can be compared to the quantum dot structures perfectly aligned to the direction of the propagating wavevector. The strength of inter-cluster coupling or order parameter for these configurations is analysed from the relative variation of the width and the energy difference of the sharp and broad peaks observed in the density of states spectra. Based on the relative change of the inter-cluster coupling with the cluster configurations, a transport model applicable to structurally inhomogeneous systems is proposed in order to explain the experimentally observed variation of the energy band gap with the disorder parameters.

OSTI ID:
22305840
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 15; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English