Field emission in vacuum resonant tunneling heterostructures with high current densities

We analyse the steady-state thermal regime of a one-dimensional triode resonant tunnelling structure. The high currents generated by resonant tunnelling produce a large amount of heat that could damage the structure. Establishing the conditions under which it can operate at optimum efficiency is therefore a problem of great relevance for applications. The tunnel current is found via eigenvalues of the Schrodinger equation in quantum wells. By calculating the current generated in the device and using the energy conservation law in the electrodes, the temperature reached is obtained for different types of electrodes and the importance of heat conduction and thermal radiation is analysed. In the cases discussed, conduction is dominant. When the electrode material is copper, the temperature reached is similar to that of the thermostat for a wide range of electrode lengths, whereas when the cathode material is diamond-graphite and the anode material is copper, the temperature increases significantly as a function of length. The results obtained allow the temperature to be controlled for optimum performance of the field-emitting triode structures.

Automated summary

We analyze the steady-state thermal regime of a one-dimensional triode resonant tunnelling structure. High currents generated by resonant tunnelling produce heat that may damage the structure, making it crucial to determine the optimal operating conditions. By calculating the current generated in the device and applying the principle of energy conservation in the electrodes, we obtain the temperature reached for different electrode materials and analyze the importance of heat conduction and thermal radiation. Our results demonstrate that conduction is the dominant factor and the electrode material plays a key role in determining the temperature variation.