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US 4,353,081 AGranted
Graded bandgap rectifying semiconductor devices
AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorsChristopher L. Allyn, Arthur C. Gossard, William Wiegmann
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Abstract
A unipolar, rectifying semiconductor device is described. Rectification is produced by an asymmetric potential barrier created by a sawtooth-shaped composition profile of Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As between layers of n-type GaAs. Single and multiple barriers, as well as doped and undoped barriers, show rectification. Also described is the incorporation of this type of device in an infrared detector, a hot electron transistor and mixer diodes.
Claims11
A semiconductor device (10) comprising
- first and second relatively narrow bandgap semiconductor layers (12, 14)
- a wider bandgap semiconductor layer (16) interposed between said first and second layers, said wider bandgap layer having a graded bandgap which increases from one of said first and second layers to the other, characterized in that said device is capable of unipolar rectification, and
- said first and second layers have the same conductivity type, and
- said wider bandgap layer is a barrier layer having a thickness large enough to prevent substantial tunneling therethrough and smaller than the depletion length of carriers therein.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.