Performance and analysis of the plasma bipolar junction transistor: Control of the surface electrical properties
A new configuration of plasma bipolar junction transistor (PBJT) based on an epitaxial wafer has been designed and fabricated. Its electrical properties and the collector plasma densities are characterized using electrical and optical methods. Using this device as a platform, coupling of the electron-ion plasma (gas phase plasma) and the electron-hole plasma (semiconductor) in terms of secondary electron ejection into the gas phase was investigated experimentally and theoretically. Ion-assisted electronic reactions occur at the plasma/semiconductor interface and their overall contribution to regulating the coupling effect was formulated and evaluated. This work demonstrated that the electrical properties of a semiconductor surface can be controlled via means of a pn junction, whether interfaced with another solid state (to form a bipolar junction transistor) or a gas (to form a plasma bipolar junction transistor). This control ability is manifest in the resultant transistor domain as variable current small signal gain. The plasma and semiconductor interface can be further engineered to alter the electrical properties and thus change the resultant transistor behavior. A PBJT with a black silicon interface was designed and characterized. The application of the black silicon PBJT as a burst mode digital transistor was demonstrated experimentally.
plasma bipolar junction transistor, microplasma, plasma transistor, plasma/semiconductor interface
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign