CURRENT SWITCHING AND INSTABILITY IN A HETEROSTRUCTURE HOT-ELECTRON DIODE

Current switching and instability in a heterostructure GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7 As/GaAs diode is studied by Monte Carlo particle technique. The conduc tion band structure with three nonparabolic GAMMA, L and X valleys is considered. The simulated heterostructure diode consists of the neares t to cathode GaAs drift region, of the AlGaAs barrier region and of th e nearest to anode GaAs region. The analysis shows that the conductanc e switching from the low to high state is essentially influenced by th e electron transport in the barrier region. Due to the S-shaped I-V ch aracteristic microwave oscillations have been excited. The oscillation s have been numerically studied under constant applied current operati on.