We investigated the current‐voltage characteristics of double‐barrier resonant tunneling diodes with areas ranged from ∼400 &mgr;m2to ∼10 &mgr;m2at a temperature of 300 and 4.2 K. For diodes of large areas, the characteristic negative differential resistance is always accompanied by a hysteresis and oscillation at several tens of MHz. However, for smaller diodes, the hysteresis and oscillation disappear, and the tunneling current shows a smooth transition between peak and valley. Our observation shows that the hysteresis can result from a load line effect. Were the hysteresis an intrinsic behavior, it should persist as the device area is reduced. We therefore conclude that the intrinsic bistability is yet to be experimentally confirmed.