Steady-state properties of lock-on current filaments in GaAs

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 28; no. 5; pp. 1497 - 1499
• Main Authors: Kambour, K., Kang, S., Myles, C.W., Hjalmarson, H.P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.10.2000; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Approximation; BOLTZMANN STATISTICS; CARRIER DENSITY; COLLECTIVE IMPACT IONIZATION; Cooling; DISTRIBUTION; Distribution functions; Filaments; Gallium arsenide; Gallium arsenides; Heating; Impact ionization; IONIZATION; Ions; LOCK-ON; Mathematical analysis; Optical scattering; Optical switches; PCSS; PHONONS; PHOTOCONDUCTIVE SWITCHES; Physics; PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Plasma temperature; SCATTERING; Semiconductors; Steady state
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/27.901221

Collective impact ionization has been used to explain lock-on in semi-insulating GaAs under high-voltage bias. We have used this theory to study some of the steady-state properties of lock-on current filaments. In steady state, the heat gained from the field is exactly compensated by the cooling due to phonon scattering. In the simplest approximation, the carrier distribution approaches a quasi equilibrium Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. In this report, we examine the validity of this approximation. We find that this approximation leads to a filament carrier density that is much lower than the high density needed to achieve a quasi-equilibrium distribution. Further work on this subject is in progress.