Impact ionization and real-space transfer of minority carriers in charge injection transistors

High electric fields in the channel of InGaAs-InAlAs heterostructure complementary charge injection transistor give rise to impact ionization and real-space transfer of minority holes from the channel. These phenomena are investigated by measuring light emission in the 1.1-3.1 eV energy range for different points on the electrical characteristics. The effective carrier temperature, determined from the exponential tails of electroluminescence spectra, is 2100 K in the channel and 450 K in the barrier.<
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