FAILURE MECHANISMS OF TUNNEL DIODES.
Abstract
Experimental evidence is presented which shows that the deterioration in the current-voltage characteristics of GaAs tunnel diodes when operated at a high forward bias results from recombination of injected electrons. The recombining electron gives its energy to the acceptor impurity atom and excites it from a substitutional site to an interstitial site. Associated with this Frenkel defect is a rearrangement of electronic states which, in turn, is responsible for the degradation of the current-voltage characteristics. It is postulated that it may be possible to fabricate GaAs tunnel diodes which do not fail, by using acceptor atoms having high activation energies. This might be feasible if the acceptor dopant can be incorporated into the GaAs in sufficiently heavy quantities. Studies of failure of GaSb tunnel diodes which sometimes show somewhat different failure modes with respect to changes in peak and valley currents indicate that in the wider band gap materials, the high electric field in the transition region plays an important part in the failure mechanism. It is predicted that tunnel diodes made from wide band gap materials and also from direct band gap materials, such as GaSb, in which the direct recombination process is important, will fail faster than those made from narrow band gap and/or indirect band gap materials. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0607730
Entities
People
- Glenn M. Glasford
- Rajendra P. Nanavati
- Richard L. Anderson
Organizations
- Syracuse University