Semi-conductor barrier switching devices

摘要

Two and three terminal semi-conductor barrier switching devices are disclosed in which a semi-conductor junction or a Schottky barrier is used to inject carriers towards a barrier formed by a narrow layer doped to have majority carriers of the type injected. In the non-conducting state the barrier prevents conduction but as an applied bias is increased the barrier begins to allow carriers of the opposite type to pass releasing the first mentioned carriers and causing the barrier height to be reduced. This action becomes regenerative with increasing bias and after passing through a negative resistance region, the device enters its conducting state. When the third terminal is present the device is made conducting by biasing its third terminal to cause carriers of the first mentioned type to be injected into the barrier region for example from a diffusion adjacent to the third terminal.