Memory effect in semiconductor gas discharge electronic devices

Abstract

The memory effect in the planar semiconductor gas discharge system at different pressures (15–760 Torr) and interelectrode distances (60–445 µm) was experimentally studied. The study was performed on the basis of current–voltage characteristic (CVC) measurements with a time lag of several hours of afterglow periods. The influence of the active space charge remaining from the previous discharge on the breakdown voltage (UB) has been analysed using the CVC method for different conductivities of semiconductor GaAs photocathode. CVC showed that even a measurement taken 96 h after the first breakdown was influenced by accumulated active particles deposited from the previous discharge. Such phenomena based on metastable atoms surviving from the previous discharge and recombined on the cathode to create initial electrons in the avalanche mechanism are shown to be fully consistent with CVC data for both pre-breakdown and post-breakdown regions. However, in the post-breakdown region pronounced negative differential conductivity was observed. Such nonlinear electrical property of GaAs is attributed to the existence of deep electronic defect called EL2 in the semiconductor cathode material. On the other hand, the CVC data for subsequent dates present a correlation of memory effect and hysteresis behaviour. The explanation for such a relation is based on the influence of long lived active charges on the electronic transport mechanism of semiconductor material.