Abstract
The isothermal reverse voltage-current characteristics of small area PN and NN+ junctions on N-type germanium have been measured. At sufficiently high currents the characteristics become independent of the type of junction and similar in form to the reverse characteristic of a point contact. The results verify Gunn's theory for the resistance of a small area contact and yield a value of approximately 6× 104 v cm-1 for the field in which avalanche multiplication takes place. The relationship of these results to observations on point contacts are discussed.

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