Quantum hydrodynamic simulation of hysteresis in the resonant tunneling diode (Q1891061)

Hysteresis in the curent-voltage curve of a resonant tunneling diode is simulated and analyzed in the quantum hydrodynamic (QHD) model for semiconductor devices. The simulations confirm that bistability is an intrinsic property of the resonant tunneling diode. The simulations presented show that hysteresis is manifested in the extension of classical fluid dynamics to quantum fluid dynamics. A finite element method is introduced based on a Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin method for the QHD conservation laws and a on mixed finite element method for Poisson's equation and for the source terms in the QHD conservation laws.