LAUSR

The current–voltage characteristics of n+-GaAs/n0-GaAs/N0-AlGaAs/N+-AlGaAs/n+-GaAs isotype heterostructures and n+-GaAs/n0-GaAs/n+-GaAs homostructures are studied. It is shown that, for a heterostructure under reverse bias providing the injection of electrons from n0-GaAs into N0-AlGaAs, the maximum operating voltage reaches a value of 48 V at a thickness of the N0-AlGaAs layer of 1.0 μm, and the current–voltage characteristic has no region of negative differential resistance. The operation of a homostructure is accompanied by a transition to the negative-differential-resistance region at a voltage of 10 V. Theoretical analysis in terms of the energy-balance model demonstrated that the reverse-biased isotype heterostructure has no negative-differential-resistance region because, in this case, the field domain does not collapse in contrast to what occurs in homostructures.