Date of Award

Fall 1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Program/Concentration

Electrical Engineering

Committee Director

Karl Schoenbach

Committee Member

Ravindra Joshi

Committee Member

Amin Dharamsi

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.E55K466

Abstract

The performance of GaAs and diamond as electron-beam controlled closing and opening switches has been studied. An emphasis has been placed on the effect of contacts on the current-voltage characteristics. The two materials studied were GaAs and diamond. Using the same semi-insulating GaAs wafer as a source of material, a bulk device and a p-i-n device have been fabricated and compared. The asymmetry of the pin diode allows operation at higher voltage because of the ability to suppress the lock-on effect. Whereas GaAs was ionized through cathodoluminescence; diamond, in the form of thin films, has been directly ionized by the electron-beam. The metal/diamond/n-silicon device studied has polarity dependent characteristics similar to the GaAs pin diode. It was shown that the lock-on effect is not dependent on whether the semiconductor is direct or indirect, but on the carrier injection mechanisms at the contacts.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/era0-4e58

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