Observation of electrical breakdown and negative resistance in an epitaxial GaAs film of a field effect structure

We have observed electrical breakdown and current-controlled negative differential resistance (NDR) in an epitaxial n-GaAs film at room temperature by using a field effect structure. The breakdown is attributed to the impact excitation of electrons trapped in 0.9-eV centers of concentration ∼1016 cm−3. The origin of NDR is explained by the theory which was originally developed for the breakdown phenomenon in Ge at low temperatures.