Abstract
Mott and Gurney1 pointed out that an insulator should be able to carry an electronic current if electrons were injected into it by a suitable contact. Such currents were observed experimentally by Smith and Rose2 in cadmium sulphide crystals. They showed that an essential condition was that the ‘deep trap’ density should be low, deep traps being centres with energy-levels well below the conduction band which can accept electrons. In a recent communication3 a model was proposed to account for the properties of semi-insulating gallium arsenide. The model suggested that in this material the above condition should be satisfied, and as a result it was predicted that space-charge currents should be observable. Here we present experimental results confirming the correctness of the prediction.
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References
Mott, K. F., and Gurney, R. W., “Electronic Processes in Ionic Crystals” (Oxford, 1940).
Smith, R. W., and Rose, A., Phys. Rev., 97, 1531 (1955).
Allen, J. W., Nature, 187, 403 (1960).
Lampert, M. A., Phys. Rev., 103, 1648 (1956).
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ALLEN, J., CHERRY, R. Space-Charge Currents in Gallium Arsenide. Nature 189, 297–298 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/189297a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/189297a0
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