Volt-ampere characteristics of diode structures based on GaAs compensated by manganese or iron

An analysis is made of the forward and backward branches of the volt-ampere characteristics of p-pi-nu-n structures obtained by the diffusion of Mn or Fe in n-type GaAs. It is shown that these characteristics are determined by the presence of deep levels on the pi-region and in the space-charge region of the pi-nu junction. In the case of small forward bias, these structures are dominated by the current component due to electron tunneling through the deep levels in the space-charge region of the pi-nu junctions in sites with a high impurity concentration. At high voltages, the structure is dominated by the injection current and the volt-ampere characteristics include a segment with S-type differential negative resistance.