Patent ID: 7750425
Filing Date: 2010-07-06
Classification: B82Y,H01L

Abstract:
1. A device comprising: a first electrode and a second electrode; a plurality of layers of a first semiconductor material disposed in a stack between the first electrode and the second electrode; and a plurality of dots-in-a-fence barrier layers, each dots-in-a-fence barrier layer consisting essentially of a plurality of quantum dots of a second semiconductor material embedded between and in direct contact with two layers of a third semiconductor material, wherein each dots-in-a-fence barrier layer is disposed in the stack between and in direct contact with a respective two of the plurality of layers of the first semiconductor material, wherein each quantum dot provides at least one quantum state at an energy between a conduction band edge and a valence band edge of adjacent layers of the first semiconductor material, wave functions of said at least one quantum state of the plurality of quantum dots to overlap as at least one intermediate band, and the layers of the third semiconductor material are arranged as tunneling barriers to require a first electron and/or a first hole in a layer of the first semiconductor material to perform quantum mechanical tunneling to reach the second semiconductor material within a respective quantum dot, and to require a second electron and/or a second hole in a layer of the first semiconductor material to perform quantum mechanical tunneling to reach another layer of the first semiconductor material.