On Avalanche Multiplication in Semiconductor Devices†

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Abstract
Recently, evidence has been presented to show that the ionization coefficients for holes and electrons in semiconductors have much the same form as functions of field strength, as do the ionization coefficients in a gas discharge. On this basis, the current multiplication and resulting characteristics have been calculated for the depletion regions of several kinds of junctions, and the results are seen to be similar to those found empirically. The behaviour of breakdown voltage, e.g. as a function of doping density in an abrupt junction has been calculated, and it is shown that the breakdown voltage varies less quickly than inversely with doping density. This multiplication, due to avalanching in an undepleted semiconductor carrying very large currents is investigated, and it is found that the current-voltage characteristic should be similar to that observed for multiplication in depletion regions.

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