Resonant tunneling diode with spin polarized injector

Abstract

We investigate the current-voltage characteristics of a II-VI semiconductor resonant-tunneling diode coupled to a diluted magnetic semiconductor injector. As a result of an external magnetic field, a giant Zeeman splitting develops in the injector, which modifies the band structure of the device, strongly affecting the transport properties. We find a large increase in peak amplitude accompanied by a shift of the resonance to higher voltages with increasing fields. We discuss a model which shows that the effect arises from a combination of three-dimensional incident distribution, giant Zeeman spin splitting and broad resonance linewidth.