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We report planar AlN/GaN resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) fabricated using a nitrogen ion implantation isolation process on silicon substrates. The active area of AlN/GaN RTDs is defined by nitrogen ion implantation. A planar RTD consists of two different-sized RTDs connected in series, where the larger one acts as a resistor and the performance of the planar RTD is determined by the smaller one. Repeatable and hysteresis-free negative differential resistances without degradation are observed through 500 continuous bidirectional voltage sweeps. The peak current density is 15.5 kA/cm2. The RTD exhibits stable negative differential resistance (NDR), with the peak-to-valley current ratio varying from 1.39 to 1.28 as the temperature increases from 77 to 295 K. This practicable and reproducible ion implantation process is compatible with silicon fabrication technology. It, thus, provides a feasible method for device design of GaN-based RTDs and facilitates the implementation of complex monolithic microwave integrated circuits based on planar III-nitride RTDs on large-size silicon wafers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report repeatable AlN/GaN resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) grown on a silicon substrate by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. The RTDs exhibit stable negative differential resistance without hysteresis at room temperature, where no degradation is observed even after 500 continuous bidirectional sweeps. The peak-to-valley current ratio is 1.36, and the peak current density is 24.38 kA/cm2. When the temperature is changed from 77 to 475 K, the peak current remains almost unchanged and the valley current increases gradually, resulting in a reduced peak-to-valley current ratio from 1.59 to 1.07. Our work softens the material quality constraints on realizing the room-temperature repeatable negative differential resistance and paves the way to low-cost III-nitride-based monolithic and hybrid microwave integrated circuits on large-size silicon wafers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]