Comparative Analysis of Temperature-Dependent Characteristics of GaAs and InGaAs Quantum Wire-Based Heterostructures

This study aims to investigate the temperature dependence of current–voltage characteristics in four GaAs-based heterojunctions: (1) a simple PN junction, (2) a simple PIN junction, (3) a PIN junction with undoped one-dimensional InGaAs quantum wires (QWRs), and (4) a PIN junction with one-dimensional δ-doped InGaAs QWRs. Measurements were carried out over a temperature range of 20–340 K. The temperature dependence of the I–V characteristics was analysed using thermionic emission theory to reveal the conduction mechanisms. The figures of merit (FOM), including the saturation current, \({I}_{0}\), the barrier height, \(\phi_{B}\), and the ideality factor, \(\eta \), were extracted from the measured I–V–T characteristics. It was observed that \({I}_{0}\) increased with temperature, which was due to an increase in the intrinsic density (n_i). Additionally, \(\phi_{B}\) increased and \(\eta \) decreased with increasing temperature, indicating the inhomogeneity of the Schottky barrier in the temperature range of 280–340 K and the dominance of tunnelling through the barrier at lower temperatures. However, the tunnelling phenomenon was more pronounced for the δ-doped GaAs PIN structure with one-dimensional InGaAs QWRs. The novelty of this work lies mainly in the study of the conduction mechanisms in the different structures.