Current instabilities in the Auger transistor

Abstract

This paper is devoted to investigation of current instabilities in the Al-SiO/sub 2/- n-Si Auger transistor. We succeeded for the first time in creating of the Auger transistor, in which in particular we use a metal-insulator heterojunction instead of a widegap semiconductor. The Auger transistor base is created by the holes which are induced by electric field which exists in the oxide layer and is formed as a selfconsistent quantum well near the n-silicon surface. The base width is about 10 /spl Aring/ and the well depth is equal up to 0.7 eV or even higher. The generation of electron-hole pairs by impact ionization (Auger generation) is the fastest physical process in semiconductors, which can be used for amplification and generation of electric signals. The impact ionization and drift regions in the Auger transistor are spatially separated. The electron-hole pairs are generated in the transistor base and partly in the collector. The S- and N- type instabilities of the collector current in the Auger transistor in a circuit with a common emitter were investigated.