Temperature-dependent characteristics of MBE-grown GaAs p+-v-p+-v-n+ regenerative switching device

The thick GaAs p+-v-p+-v-n+ regenerative switching diode was fabricated by the MBE technique on n+-GaAs substrate. Temperature-dependent operational parameters, including switching voltage VS, switching current IS, holding voltage VH and holding current I, were investigated. It is found that VS, VH and IH decrease from 19 V, 3.6 V and 1.2 mA to 10.2 V, 2 V and 130 ¿A, respectively, with decreasing measurement temperature from room temperature to 77 K, while IS increases from 5 ¿A to 45 ¿A. However, VS takes a more complicated `M¿-shape characteristic from 77 K to 323 K which indicates a more complicated transport mechanism.