Patent ID: 8866154

Claim:
A semiconductor heterojunction structure comprising: a layer of a first single-crystalline semiconductor material; a layer of a second single-crystalline semiconductor material, the second single-crystalline semiconductor material having a different chemical composition and a different lattice constant than the first single-crystalline semiconductor material; and a current tunneling layer disposed between and in contact with the upper surface of the layer of the first single-crystalline semiconductor material and the lower surface of the layer of the second single-crystalline semiconductor material, wherein the current tunneling layer comprises an inorganic material, wherein the bandgap of the inorganic material is wider than the bandgaps of the first and second single-crystalline semiconductor materials and further wherein the inorganic material is not a native oxide of the first single-crystalline semiconductor material or a native oxide of the second single-crystalline semiconductor material; wherein the interfaces between the current tunneling layer and the layers of the first and second single-crystalline semiconductor materials do not have an epitaxial structure.