Abstract

Ballistic electron emission microscopy (BEEM) has recently been developed to study the electrical properties of buried interfaces where ballistic electrons are injected into a sample using a scanning tunneling microscope. In this paper, a method is proposed that uses the BEEM technique to observe electron wave optical properties of ballistic transport in semiconductors. This method provides a three-terminal configuration for characterizing electron wave devices that overcomes many of the problems encountered in traditional two- and three-terminal techniques. Specifically, the method provides a highly collimated beam of ballistic carriers with a precisely controlled energy distribution. These carriers probe the quantum transmittance of a voltage- tunable electron wave interference device with minimal impurity scattering. A general procedure is presented for analyzing this experimental configuration based on a combination of the models used to describe BEEM and ballistic electron transport in semiconductors.

© 1991 Optical Society of America