Impact of Current Filaments on the Material and Output Characteristics of GaAs Photoconductive Switches

Author

Cheng Ma ; Wei Shi ; Mengxia Li ; Huaimeng Gui ; Nana Hao ; Pengbo Xue

Author_Institution

Dept. of Appl. Phys., Xi´an Univ. of Technol., Xi´an, China

Volume

61

Issue

7

fYear

2014

fDate

Jul-14

Firstpage

2432

Lastpage

2436

Abstract

The current filament phenomena in high gain gallium arsenide (GaAs) photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSS) always draw a significant influence on the lifetime of the devices. This paper presents a study on the influence of the current filament over the material properties and output characteristics of the GaAs PCSS. The working principle of the current filaments has been analyzed and it is shown that the performance of GaAs PCSS degrades due to the heating effects of the current filaments. It is observed that the heating effect of current filament reduces the dark resistivity of the GaAs material; furthermore, it gradually damages electrode of PCSS, leading to the breakdown of PCSS. This paper presents the relationship between the turn-ON process and damage of the PCSS.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; photoconducting switches; GaAs; current filaments; heating effects; photoconductive semiconductor switches; Conductivity; Electric breakdown; Electrodes; Gallium arsenide; Heating; Optical switches; Current filaments; EL2 level; gallium arsenide (GaAs); semiconductor; semiconductor.;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2014.2323052

Filename

6820753