Electrical Characterizations of 35-kV Semi-Insulating Gallium Arsenide Photoconductive Switch

Abstract

In this paper, a three-layer GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switch (GaAs PCSS) is designed to withstand high voltage from 20 to 35 kV. The maximum avalanche gain and minimum on-state resistance of GaAs PCSS are 1385 and 0.58 Ω, respectively, which are the highest values reported to date. Finally, the influence of the bias voltage on the avalanche stability is analyzed. The stability of the GaAs PCSS is evaluated and calculated. The results show that the jitter values at the bias voltages of 30 kV and 35 kV are 164.3 ps and 106.9 ps, respectively. This work provides guidance for the design of semiconductor switches with high voltage and high gain.