A voltage-tunable in-plane diode in a two-dimensional-electron system

We present a voltage-tunable in-plane diode in a nanoscale, two-dimensional electron system, whose functionality is mainly determined by the sample geometry. The diode consists of a narrow semiconductor channel, confined by etched insulating trenches. An applied voltage along the channel modulates the effective width of the conducting channel, depending on the sign of the applied voltage. This behavior results in a diode-like IV-characteristic. The tunability of the device is achieved by two in-plane side gates, which are able to widely tune the I(V)-characteristic of this rectifier. In the normally-off regime, this tunable in-plane diode works as a half-wave rectifier with sharply defined turn-on voltage. The value of the turn-on voltage depends on the side-gate voltage. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.