Moving High-Field Domain and Current Saturation in Optically Excited n-InSb

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
When a slab of n -InSb excited optically was subjected to an electric field between 80 V/cm and 210 V/cm at 77°K, the current saturation associated with a current spike or a damped current oscillation occurred. At the same time the moving high-field domain was detected, whose velocity increased from 2×10 5 cm/sec to 1.2×10 5 cm/sec with the increase of the electric field and of the optical excitation. The measurement of the Hall effect showed that the velocity of the moving domain is much smaller than that of electrons in the corresponding electric field. The crystallographic orientation had no significant effect. The results are discussed in terms of various possible mechanisms, and it is concluded qualitatively that these phenomena are possibly due to the recombination nonlinearity.