Self-organized symmetry-breaking current filamentation and multistability in Corbino disks
- 15 April 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review B
- Vol. 61 (15), 10194-10200
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.61.10194
Abstract
A complex symmetry-breaking current instability in doped semiconductors induced by low-temperature impact ionization breakdown is investigated. We present computer simulations revealing the dynamics of the self-organized formation of multiple current filaments in n-GaAs Corbino disks, i.e., samples with concentric circular contacts. Our results explain the nascence of a filament in terms of two consecutive stages: a radially symmetric impact ionization front spreading from the inner contact becomes unstable and breaks up into a number of streamers evolving into prefilaments. With rising current, competition between those prefilaments takes place due to the global coupling via the load resistance. Only a small number of these survive and grow into fully developed filaments. Using the applied bias as a control parameter we find multistability and hysteresis, with jumps in the current-voltage characteristic caused by the spontaneous formation of additional filaments in the Corbino disk.Keywords
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