A double barrier resonant tunneling diode (RTD) is formed and integrated with
a
level of CMOS/BJT/SiGe devices and circuits through processes such as metal-to-metal
thermocompressional bonding, anodic bonding, eutectic bonding, plasma bonding,
silicon-to-silicon bonding, silicon dioxide bonding, silicon nitride bonding and
polymer bonding or plasma bonding. The electrical connections are made using conducting
interconnects aligned during the bonding process. The resulting circuitry has a
three-dimensional architecture. The tunneling barrier layers of the RTD are formed
of high-K dielectric materials such as SiO2, Si3N4,
Al2O3, Y2O3, Ta2O5,
TiO2, HfO2, Pr2O3, ZrO2,
or their alloys and laminates, having higher band-gaps than the material forming
the quantum well, which includes Si, Ge or SiGe. The inherently fast operational
speed of the RTD, combined with the 3-D integrated architecture that reduces interconnect
delays, will produce ultra-fast circuits with low noise characteristics.