1990-05-08
1992-01-14
Hille, Rolf
357 16, 357 4, 357 15, H01L 2980, H01L 2712, H01L 29161, H01L 2948
Patent
active
050815121
ABSTRACT:
Semiconductor apparatus comprises a split-gate semiconductor device (1) which has a first layer (3) of a first undoped semiconductor material (e.g. GaAs) and a second layer (4) of a second semiconductor material (e.g. AlGaAs) which is doped through at least part of its thickness. The second material has a higher energy band gap than the first material, and the layers form a heterojunction so that electrons from the second layer collect in the first layer to form a two-dimensional electron gas. Drain and source contacts (7,6) are provided on the second layers, and a gate electrode (8) is so configured that on application of a sufficiently large negative bias to the gate electrode a constriction is formed in the first layer through which only a one-dimensional electron gas can pass between the source and drain contacts. The apparatus also includes a bias supply (17) for applying a bias voltage between the source and drain contacts. The source/drain bias is made equal to or greater than E.sub.f /e where E.sub.f is the Fermi energy of electrons in the two-dimensional gas and e is the electron charge. As a result of the large source drain bias, the device exhibits negative resistance, and the apparatus can be used as an oscillator or a detector, operating in the Thz range.
REFERENCES:
Journal of Physics C: Solid State Physics, vol. 21, 1988, pp. L209-L214, IOP Publishing Ltd., London; D. A. Wharam et al., "One-Dimensional Transport and the Quantisation of the Ballistic Resistance".
Physical Review Letters, vol. 58, No. 24, Jun. 15, 1987, pp. 2586-2589, The American Physical Society, New York; W. Hansen et al; "Intersubband Inversion Channels".
Electronics Letters, vol. 25, No. 15, Jul. 20, 1989, pp. 992-993; M. J. Kelly, et al; "One-Dimensional Ballistic Resistor in Hot-Electron Regime: Nonlinear and Negative Differential Resistance to 10 THz".
Physical Review B., vol. 39, No. 11, Apr. 15, 1989, pp. 8040-8043, The American Physical Society; L. P. Kouwenhoven et al; "Nonlinear Conductance of Quantum Point Contacts".
Brown Robert J.
Kelly Michael J.
Pepper Micahel
Smith Charles G.
Wharam David A.
Fahmy Wael
Hille Rolf
The General Electric Company p.l.c.
LandOfFree
Electronic devices does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Electronic devices, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electronic devices will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-544766