A Drive Scheme for the GaAs-Si Light-Activated Switch

The development of a GaAs-Si light-activated switch, designed to serve as a building block in an integrated electronic gating system (multiplexor), has been reported
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It was found that the usefulness of the gating system could be greatly amplified if a simple drive scheme could be designed to operate compatibly with it. Such a drive scheme has been developed, and is briefly described here. It possesses both simplicity and a high degree of compatibility, since its principal components are the same (GaAs light emitting diode and double-emitter silicon transistor) as those which make up the light-activated switch. Incorporated in an integrated package, the drive scheme has the advantages of minimized power requirements, a minimum number of components, and increased reliability (through reduction of the requirement for interconnections).