High-current low-voltage switches for nanosecond pulse durations based on thyristor (Al)GaAs/GaAs homo- and heterostructures

A series of low-voltage thyristor current switches based on (Al)GaAs/GaAs homo- and heterostructures with a volume charge region formed in the lightly doped $p$-GaAs base layer have been developed. The transient processes characteristics in pulse generation mode of nanosecond duration have been studied. It has been shown that the use of a wide-bandgap barrier based on AlGaAs at the $n$-emitter/$p$-base junction allows reducing the minimum control current amplitude from 30 to 3 mA, and the turn-on delay time can be shortened to 6 ns. For the developed thyristor switches, a minimum transition time of 3.7–3.9 ns was demonstrated when operating in a circuit with a 1 nF capacitive load. In a circuit with a nominal 1 Ohm resistive load, the thyristor switches provided a peak current of 17.5 A with a pulse duration of 3.7 ns.