A new planar injection-gated bulk switching device based upon deep impurity trapping

Under the proper conditions, double-injection (DI) diodes with partially compensated deep impurities will exhibit 'S'-type switching characteristics similar to conventional silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCR's). A practical injection-gating scheme has been achieved for the first time in a planar configuration to control the switching behavior of these devices, marked by extreme sensitivity of the gate over a range of switching voltages. An experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of these devices for practical application is described. Finally, a phenomenological explanation is presented for the gate-controlled switching of these devices.