Polycrystalline cubic silicon carbide photoconductive switch

The first cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) photoconductive switches were fabricated from polycrystalline 3C-SiC. The switches had a dark resistivity of 10/sup 6/ /spl Omega//cm. A breakdown field of 250 kV/cm and a peak photocurrent density of 10 kA/cm/sup 2/ through the switch were obtained. The ratio of off-resistance to on-resistance of the switch reached up to 10/sup 5/. The photocurrent had a pulse width as narrow as 15 ns. The trigger gain of the switch was 4.7.