Experimentally estimated dead space for GaAs and InP based planar Gunn diodes

An experimental method has been used to estimate the dead space of planar Gunn diodes which were fabricated using GaAs and InP based materials, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the dead space was approximately 0.23 μm and the saturation domain velocity 0.96 × 105 m s−1 for an Al0.23Ga0.77As based device, while for an In0.53Ga0.47As based device, the dead space was approximately 0.21 μm and the saturation domain velocity 1.93 × 105 m s−1. Further, the results suggest that the saturation domain velocity is reduced or there is an increase in the dead-space due to local field distortions when the active channel length of the planar Gunn diode is less than 1 micron.