Electron heating in doped GaAs—Is it directional?

Abstract

The transfer ratio through a hot electron device, having a very low collector barrier, was found to exceed unity for sufficiently high injection energies. This surprising phenomenon is attributed to the heating of base electrons by hot injected electrons, typically to temperatures of 10–20 K, leading in turn to a significant thermionic-emission current which adds to the usual ballistic current. The alternative explanation which involves single-particle, directional energy exchange, is excluded.