Temperature-dependent characteristics of MBE-grown GaAs p⁺-v-p⁺-v-n⁺ regenerative switching device

The thick GaAs p⁺-v-p⁺-v-n⁺ regenerative switching diode was fabricated by the MBE technique on n⁺-GaAs substrate. Temperature-dependent operational parameters, including switching voltage V_s, switching current I_s, holding voltage VH and holding current I, were investigated. It is found that V_s, V_H and I_H decrease from 19 V, 3.6 V and 1.2 mA to 10.2 V, 2 V and 130 μA, respectively, with decreasing measurement temperature from room temperature to 77 K, while I_s increases from 5 μA to 45 μA. However, V_s takes a more complicated ‘M’-shape characteristic from 77 K to 323 K. which indicates a more complicated transport mechanism.