Nonresonant electron tunneling in cluster superlattice of tellurium in zeolite

摘要

We study the currenthyphen;voltage (Indash;V) characteristics of tellurium (Te) cluster superlattice in Linde typehyphen;A (LTA) zeolite. We observed both the hysteresis current loop and the current peak. The current loop and the current peak, however, are history dependent. Under the same experimental conditions, we find that the current peak position moves to the higher voltage when the sample temperature is increased. We clarify that both the current loop and peak are transient phenomena. The observed current peak is a phenomenon of the pseudonegative differential resistance. We explain the observedIndash;Vcharacteristics as the results of the structure change of Te clusters inside zeolite cages under an external electric field. The current peak can be understood as the effect of the finite transient time during which Te clusters change from one structure into another under an applied voltage. copy;1996 American Institute of Physics.