CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

In this work we show a simple model for a non-linear nano-electronic device displaying a range of current-voltage characteristics including negative differential resistance, multistability and rectification. The tight-binding model for the device consists of a pair of coupled quantum dots attached to two semi-infinite linear monoatomic chains. Non linearity is introduced via electron-electron coulomb repulsion through an onsite Hubbard U. We study the mean-field electronic structure of the device as a function of applied potential difference for a range of values of the intra-device coupling and coupling to the leads. We show a map of the regions within the parameter space of the model where different non linear characteristics are observed. The non-linear behavior is explained in terms of the non-equilibrium electronic structure of the system.