GaAs vapor-grown Shockley diodes and semiconductor-controlled rectifiers

Abstract

GaAs vapor-grown n-p-n-p structures have been prepared from which two-terminal negative-resistance Shockley diodes and three-terminal semiconductor controlled rectifiers (SCR's) have been fabricated. For basewidths between 1 and 5 µm, these devices have a breakover voltage between 5 and 20 V, a forward voltage of about 1.2 V, and switching times on the order of 1 to 10 ns. Uniform near-bandgap electroluminescence with external quantum efficiencies up to about 0.2 percent is obtained at room temperature. The SCR's fabricated from the vapor-grown structures exhibit classical latching behavior upon application of a gating pulse to either of the interior layers.