Physical origins of fine structure in the resonant tunneling through laterally confined 1D-0D-1D structures

Experimental studies of electron transport through gated vertical resonant tunneling structures have been seen to display complicated features in the measured I-V characteristics. The interpretation of the data has been difficult due to the lack of detailed knowledge of the lateral confining potential profile in different parts of the device as well as the associated tunneling properties. In this work we theoretically investigate the electron transport through laterally confined double-barrier resonant tunneling structures connected via narrow emitters and collectors to two-dimensional electron reservoirs. In particular we investigate the effects of variation of the lateral confining potential in different parts of the device. The calculated I-V spectra display complicated fine features which can be explained by the complex interplay between the density of states in the dot and the density of states in the narrow emitter and collector as the lateral confining potential is varied. The calculations may provide physical insight to the complicated features seen in the experiments.