Measurement and simulation of GaAs FET's under electron-beam irradiation

Injection of 15-kV electrons into gallium arsenide field-effect transistors leads to static current gains in excess of 10 to the 7th. Such gains are well above the 3600 gain expected from electron-hole pair production. A two-dimensional computer simulation has been extended to include electron-beam production of excess carriers at arbitrary points in the device structure. The resulting redistribution of potentials is shown to predict an increase in the effective channel thickness. The corresponding increase in drain current is in good agreement with the experimental measurements.