This planning grant, submitted in conjunction with the Minority Research Initiation program of the NSF, will provide for support to develop a research proposal in the area of hot electron versus phonon-assisted tunneling currents as they pertain to double barrier resonant tunneling structures (DBRTS). Experimental results along these lines could significantly impact physical device issues of peak-to-valley currents, thereby resulting in a substantial increase in quantum mechanical tunneling with, in turn, enhanced electrical current.