Effect of contact space charge on current ratings of cryogenic silicon photoconductive switches

Rodney A. Petr; James P. Reilly; Raymond B. Schaefer; George I. Kachen

doi:10.1117/12.59082

12 May 1992 Effect of contact space charge on current ratings of cryogenic silicon photoconductive switches

Rodney A. Petr, James P. Reilly, Raymond B. Schaefer, George I. Kachen

Proceedings Volume 1632, Optically Activated Switching II; (1992) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.59082
Event: OE/LASE '92, 1992, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

Under ideal conditions photoconductive switches utilizing ohmic contacts can be made to conduct high currents that scale directly with input optical trigger power. In practice, however, ohmic contacts can only be approximated by using heavily-doped contact/metallization regions, so that photoswitch structures employing intrinsic substrate layers to support switch voltage can be viewed as n-i-n, p-i-n, or p-i-n, depending on the contact doping. Under bias, these contacts preferentially inject majority carriers (either holes or electrons) into the substrate that can form high local space charge electric fields at elevated current densities. In this paper we show both experimentally and analytically that contact space charge formation in a cryogenic silicon n-i-n photoswitch structure ultimately limits its on-state current capability.

Citation Download Citation

Rodney A. Petr, James P. Reilly, Raymond B. Schaefer, and George I. Kachen "Effect of contact space charge on current ratings of cryogenic silicon photoconductive switches", Proc. SPIE 1632, Optically Activated Switching II, (12 May 1992); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.59082

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