A novel approach for determining the peak-to-valley current ratio in nanomaterial devices

• An innovative methodology is presented to determine the peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) for right-triangle (sawtooth) and rectangle GaAs-Ga 1-y Al y As-GaAs nanomaterial devices. • It predicts the required parameters for determining the optimum peak-to-valley current ratio, which is crucial in fabricating resonant tunneling nanomaterial devices. • It shows good agreement with the published experimental and theoretical data. • The present method can be applied to any other resonant tunneling nanomaterial devices. The peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) was determined using a new method based on the transfer matrix technique. This method was applied to right-triangular (sawtooth) and rectangular nanomaterial double barrier diodes composed of GaAs-Ga 1-y Al y As semiconductor materials. It was observed that the well width, barrier thickness, and aluminum content of the barrier material, along with the applied bias voltage and temperature, significantly influenced the PVCR values. It was also found that the resonant tunneling nanostructured devices have pronounced PVCR values at low temperatures and nearly thick barriers. The results of the PVCR are in good agreement with the published experimental and theoretical data. This method can be applied to estimate the required parameters for high-performance resonant nanostructure devices.