Dc. Stoudt et al., EFFECTS OF 1-MEV NEUTRON-IRRADIATION ON THE OPERATION OF A BISTABLE OPTICALLY CONTROLLED SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCH (BOSS), I.E.E.E. transactions on electron devices, 41(6), 1994, pp. 913-919
Recent subnanosecond-opening results of the bistable optically control
led semiconductor switch (BOSS) are presented. The processes of persis
tent photoconductivity followed by photo-quenching have been demonstra
ted in copper-compensated, silicon-doped, semi-insulating gallium arse
nide (GaAs:Si:Cu). These processes allow a switch to be developed that
can be closed by the application of one laser pulse (lambda = 1.06 mu
m) and opened by the application of a second laser pulse with a wavele
ngth equal to twice that of the first laser. The opening phase is a tw
o-step process which relies initially on the absorption of the 2-13-mu
m laser and finally on the recombination of electrons in the conductio
n band with holes in the valance band. The second step requires a suff
icient concentration of recombination centers in the material for open
ing to occur in the subnanosecond regime. This report discusses the ef
fects of 1-MeV neutron irradiation on the BOSS material for the purpos
e of recombination center generation. Initial experiments indicated a
reduction of the recombination time from several nanoseconds down to a
bout 250 ps. Both experimental and theoretical results are presented.