Electron transport in avalanching GaAs diodes

Magnetoresistance measurements on avalanching GaAs diodes lead to an estimate of 1.6 × 10
^-15
sec for the scattering time of avalanching electrons at 300K. This is consistent with the time recently calculated by Monte Carlo techniques. It confirms that impact ionization by electrons in GaAs is initiated by carriers that make several collisions in the process rather than by ballistic carriers which impact ionize without any interaction with phonons.