Electron ballistic injection and extraction for very high efficiency, high frequency transferred electron devices

Claim 1

A high frequency transferred electron device having electron ballistic injection and extraction for very high efficiency, comprising: a semiconductor body portion; a first electrode; a ballistic injection region connecting said first electrode to a first end of said body portion, said region including a potential barrier for injecting electrons into said body portion at an energy level sufficiently high to enable the electrons to traverse said body portion ballistically; a second electrode portion; a collector semiconductor region connecting said second electrode portion to a second end of said body portion, the connection between the second end of said body portion and said collector semiconductor region being free of any potential barrier; and means for applying a high frequency varying potential across said electrodes to cause injection of ballistic electrons into said body portions, said applied potential varying between a low applied potential value which causes very high peak electron velocity and results in ballistic travel across said body portion and a high applied potential value which causes a transfer of injected ballistic electrons to a high mass condition for travel at a low velocity across said body portion, the potential variation producing a high efficiency ratio between the peak velocity of average electrons and the valley velocity of average electrons.

Claim 17

A method for providing a transferred electron device with improved high frequency response and increased efficiency, comprising: forming a semiconductor body portion having a low, controlled density of electrons and impurities to provide a semiconductor drift region; forming at one end of said body portion a collector semiconductor region having a substantially neutral space charge for connecting said body portion to an anode electrode, without a potential barrier; forming at the opposite end of said body portion a ballistic injection region connecting said body portion to a cathode electrode and forming a barrier between said body portion and said injection region; applying a high frequency potential across said electrodes, said potential varying between a low value for launching ballistic electrons over said barrier and into said drift region at a high velocity substantially without causing intervalley transitions so that injected electrons retain a low mass condition and high velocity across the entire width of said body portion, and a high value for launching ballistic electrons over said barrier and into said drift region with an energy level sufficient to cause transfer of electrons to a high mass condition, said high mass electrons returning to a low mass condition when said applied potential returns to a low value, said electrons being extracted from said body portion through said collector semiconductor region.

Claim 18

A method for providing a transferred electron device with improved high frequency response and increased efficiency, comprising: forming a semiconductor body portion having a low, controlled density of electrons and impurities to provide a semiconductor drift region; forming at one end of said body portion a collector semiconductor region having a substantially neutral space charge for connecting said body portion to an anode electrode, without a potential barrier; forming at the opposite end of said body portion a ballistic injection region connecting said body portion to a cathode electrode and forming a barrier between said body portion and said injection region; applying a high frequency potential across said electrodes, said potential varying between a low value for launching ballistic electrons over said barrier and into said drift region at a high velocity substantially without causing intervalley transitions so that injected electrons retain a low mass condition and high velocity across the entire width of said body portion, and a high value for launching ballistic electrons over said barrier and into said drift region with an energy level sufficient to cause transfer of electrons to a high mass condition, said high mass electrons returning to a low mass condition when said applied potential returns to a low value, said electrons being extracted from said body portion through said collector semiconductor region.