Resonant tunneling in double-barrier quantum wells with a white-noise random potential: Heterogeneous elastic-broadening effects

We analyze resonant tunneling in double-barrier quantum wells, within a one-dimensional tight-binding model, where we introduce white-noise fluctuations in the atomic energies. The fluctuations lead to heterogeneous elastic broadening, whose effect can be evaluated exactly, within the model. Through transmission probabilities and spectral-weights calculations we are able to discuss different tunneling regimes in the presence of elastic-scattering centers. We also analyze the effect of this broadening mechanism on the current density–voltage characteristics.