Effects of EL2 deep level in GaAs photoconductive switch

Abstract

The semi-insulating (SI) GaAs photoconductive switch is considered to be the higher efficient THz source recently. In order to make good use of the photoconductive switch to generate the more efficient THz wave, SI-GaAs photoconductive switch's working mechanism is discussed from the respect of EL2 deep level in this paper. It has three operation modes. The SI-GaAs material has many kinds of intrinsic-defects. One of the more notable defects is EL2 deep level. The EL2 level can become an impactful electron trap in the linear operation mode; The EL2 level is also the necessary condition of nonlinear (also known as Lock-on) operation mode emerging in III-V semiconductors such as GaAs and InP. At the same time, the compound operation mode is substantial related with the conversion from neutral energy level EL20 to metastable energy level EL2* and singly ionized energy level EL2 + in semiconductor under the light. So in this paper the effects of EL2 deep level are analyzed in photoconductive switch' there operation modes.