Semiconductor device having turn on and turn off gain

Claim 1

A BISTABLE CIRCUIT COMPRISING, FIRST AND SECOND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES, CHARACTERIZED BY FIRST AND SECOND GAIN FACTORS RESPECTIVELY, A CURRENT SOURCE, AND INPUT TERMINAL, MEANS FOR COUPLING SAID CURRENT SOURCE ACROSS SAID FIRST AND SECOND SEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICES, MEANS FOR POSITIVELY FEEDING BACK SIGNALS FROM EACH SEMI-CONDUCTING DEVICE TO THE OTHER TO ACCELERATE CHANGE BETWEEN CONDUCTIVE AND NON-CONDUCTIVE STATES OF SAID DEVICES, MEANS FOR COUPLING SAID INPUT TERMINAL TO SAID FEED-BACK MEANS WHEREBY A SIGNAL OF ONE POLARITY APPLIED THERETO RENDERS BOTH SAID DEVICES CONDUCTIVE WHILE A SIGNAL OF OPPOSITE POLARITY RENDERS BOTH SAID DEVICES NON-CONDUCTIVE, MEANS FOR ESTABLISHING THE GAIN FACTOR OF ONE OF SAID DEVICES AS LESS THAN ONE AND THE GAIN FACTOR OF THE OTHER OF SAID DEVICES AS MORE THAN ONE, WHEREBY SAID SIGNALS OF OPPOSITE POLARITY APPLIED TO SAID INPUT TERMINAL MAY BE OF RELATIVELY SMALL AMPLITUDE AND STILL EFFECT SAID CHANGES IN STATE, THE PRODUCT OF SAID GAIN FACTORS BEING GREATER THAN ONE.