Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

GaAs photoconductive closing switches with high dark resistance and microsecond conductivity decay

1989; American Institute of Physics; Volume: 54; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1063/1.100879

1520-8842

Michael S. Mazzola, Karl H. Schoenbach, V.K. Lakdawala, R. Germer, G.M. Loubriel, F.J. Zutavern,

Gyrotron and Vacuum Electronics Research

Silicon-doped n-type gallium arsenide crystals, compensated with diffused copper, were studied with respect to their application as photoconductive, high-power closing switches. The attractive features of GaAs:Cu switches are their high dark resistivity, their efficient activation with Nd:YAG laser radiation, and their microsecond conductivity decay time constant. In our experiment, electric fields as high as 19 kV/cm were switched, and current densities of up to 10 kA/cm2 were conducted through a closely compensated crystal. At field strengths greater than approximately 10 kV/cm, a voltage ‘‘lock-on’’ effect was observed.