Numerical Analysis of Tunneling Between Stacked Quantum Wires with the Inclusion of the Effects from Effective Mass Discontinuities

A technique for the exact solution of the 3D Schrödinger equation in a structure with the effective mass varying in the direction transverse with respect to that of electron propagation is presented. Such a technique is applied to the study of the tunneling conductance between two stacked quantum wires as a function of the voltage applied to a top gate, whose action on the confinement potential is evaluated by means of a 3D Poisson solver. Results are then compared with those for an approximate model that allows separating the variables of the Schrödinger equation and with those for a simplified treatment of the gate action.