Infrared light emission from GaAs MESFETs operating at avalanche breakdown conditions

Visible and infrared light emission bands arising from avalanche breakdown between gate and drain contacts of high-frequency high-power GaAs field effect transistors have been studied. The decay time of the mid-infrared (mid-IR) light (photon energies in the range 0.25–0.5 eV) is considerably less than 25 ms, while light with photon energies below 0.25 eV decays in a few seconds after switching off the current. The mid-IR spectrum of the light emitted by the GaAs transistors at high current consists of almost equidistant peaks with widths of ≈15 meV. The mid-IR emission is attributed to radiative transitions of holes from the split-off band to the heavy-hole band.