NEGATIVE-RESISTANCE CURRENT-VOLTAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INDIUM ANTIMONIDE P+-P-N+ DIODE

The negative resistance volt-ampere characteristic of a solution-grown indium antimonide p+-p-n+ diode is presented. The curve can be understood through the use of crude models. A prebreakdown nonlinearity and the negative resistance are attributed to the growth of a high-conductivity plasma across the sample. A shallow negative resistance in the postbreakdown region is thought to be caused by lateral expansion of this plasma. Finally, a postbreakdown characteristic of the form I ∝ V3 is explained in terms of a double-injection recombination-limited current with a current-dependent effective diode length. © 1968 The American Institute of Physics.