Theory of triangular-barrier bulk unipolar diodes including minority-carrier effects

Abstract

The effect of the minority-carrier charge on the barrier height of the triangular-barrier (TB) majority-carrier diode is considered. The consequences of this effect on the device performance as a diode, transistor, photodetector, and a thyristor is briefly delineated. A two-carrier model of the TB diode is developed to account for this effect. Four other approximate models of the TB diode are compared with the two-carrier model, and the range of their validity established. A high-gain TB "transistor" is proposed based on the mechanism of barrier-height modulation via minority-carrier injection in the TB diode.