1963
cavity were obtained by cleaving. The
ohmic contact to the n-type base was made
by alloying to a Sn-Au plated molybdenum
tab. Typically the dimensions of the rec-
tangular parallelepipeds have been 400x80
X80 microns.
Fig. 2 shows the spectrum of the radia-
tionfrom the (Ino.;jGao.,s)As diodemaser
a t 1.9’K both below and abovethreshold.
Atacontinuouscurrent of 200mA the
spontaneous emission linepeaks a t 2 . 0 9 ~
and has a half-width of 500 A. Coherent
emission from the flat and parallel surfaces
of the diode was obtained by using current
pulses of 50-nsec duration.The coherent
emission lineinFig. 2, whichoccurs at
2 . 0 7 ~ with zp instrument limited half-
width of 6.5 A, was observed with current
pulses of 35 A in a magnetic field of 14
kilogauss applied perpendicular to the direc-
tion of current flow. As reported for GaAsl1
and InAsI2 diodes, application of a magnetic
field reduces the current threshold for co-
herent emission and increases the emission
intensity a t a given current above threshold.
A t 14 kilogauss, the threshold current for this
diode, as evidenced by a sharp increase in
total emission intensity from the cleaved
surface, was 9 A(3 X lo4 a/cmz).
The line widths andcurrent threshold
for the 1.77-p diode maser, which were also
measured a t 1.9’K and 14kilogauss, were
Fig. l-(In,Gall)As maser diode structure illus-
trating some of the fabrication details.
ABOVE THRESHOLD
35 Amp
-: I 61-
. I
BELOW THRESHOLD
2 0 0 mA
I
2.05 2 IO 2.15
WAVELENGTH (a)
Fig. 2-Spectra of infrared emission above and below
threshold from cleaved surface of (1no.eGao.s)As
diode at 1.9’K with a magnetic field of 14 kilo-
gauss applied perpendicular tothe dlrectlon of
current flow. The spectrum above threshold was
taken with 50-nsec pulses of 35 a-amplitude, while
the spectrum helow threshold w a s taken with a
continuous current of 2 0 0 ma. The measured width
of spectrum above threshold corresponds to the
resolution of the grating spectrometer.
11 W. Krag. private communication.
I* I. Melngailis and R. H. Rediker. “Magnetically
tunable cw InAs diode maser.” Aggl. Phys. Leu.. vol.
2, pp. 202-204: June, 1963.
Correspondence 1155
similar to those for the 2.07-P maser. In both regardless of being P on N or N on P ; in
masers, the threshold is considerably higher liquidnitrogen orat room temperature.
than inmostInAs and GaAsmasers. I t With the onset of diode breakdown, the en-
cannot be determined a t this time whether tirejunction glows with a pale yellow-red
the threshold is a fundamental property of color which can be Seen with the naked eye
(In,Gal-,)Asorwhetheritcanbe signifi- in a partially lighted room. Fig. 1 is a photo-
cantly reducedbychanges in dopingor graphmade a t room temperature of an
fabrication technique. The magnetic thresh- emitter-base diode showing the entire junc-
old-reduction has been used to avoid over- tion glowing. Under magnification, the light
heating, which may be an even more serious emission appearsspotty,but is uniform
problem in the mixed crystals than in GaAs enough to be considered a macroplasma
and InAsbecause the lattice thermal con- emission as defined by Batdorf.2 However,
ductivities aremuch lower in the mixed in most cases a t certain areas of the macro-
crystals.6 plasma, extremely bright spots are readily
Bymaking (In,Gal,)As diodemasers visible and it is believed that these are ac-
with coherent emission wavelengths a t 2 . 0 7 ~ tually microplasma sites.’ Fig. 2 is a photo-
and 1.77p, we believe we have demonstrated graph depicting thebright microplasmas
the feasibility of producingsemiconductor located in the uniform emission pattern.
diode masers which will emit coherent radia- As the breakdown current is increased,
tion atany desiredwavelengthbetween the color remains unchanged but the emis-
0 . 8 4 ~(GaAs) and 3 . 1 (InAs). ~ sion intensity rises continuously.At this
The authors wish to thank R. J. Keyes point, the third mechanism mentioned in the
and D. H. Bates for providing the calibrated literature’ as a mesoplasma is observable. At
grating spectrometer and F. W . Sarlesfor some current level, thecharacteristic V-1
designing a peak detecting voltmeter. Mrs. curve goes througha negativeresistance
L. B. Farrell prepared the (In,Gal-,)As region and falls to a very low voltage level;
ingots and J. W . Sanchezmade the x-ray thisphenomenon is knownas ‘secondary
diffractionstudies. The maser structures breakdown.” English and Powers have re-
were fabricated and the experimental setup ported that as the diode they had prepared
was built by Mrs. M. L. Barney and L. J. switched over to the lower voltage mode, an
Belanger. extremelylarge bright red spot appeared
I. MELNGAILIS and, at the same instant, the smaller micro-
A. J. STRAUSS plasmasdiminished in lightintensity.The
R. H. REDIKER authors have observed a similar effect. As
Lincoln Laboratoryt secondarybreakdown is approached,the
Mass. Inst. Tech. uniformmacroplasma and the spotted mi-
Lexington, Mass. croplasmainc ease in lightintensity.At
Secondary breakdown, all other emission is
halted and the singular bright red spot ap-
t Operated with support from the U. S. Army, pears. This mesoplasma which appearsto
Navy andA x Force.
originate fromone of the smaller micro-
plasma sites grows in size until the diode is
destroyed.
An analysis of the breakdown light emis-
sion shows it to be a continuum type spectra
withoneendbeginning a t approximately
5350°A, peaking in intensity a t 6000’A and
remaining constant out to7000’A which was
the end of the sensitivity range of the emul-
Light Emission from Silicon sion used. These wavelengths correspond to
Transistor Junctions* energies of 2.31 ev, 2.05 ev, and 1.76 ev, re-
Three principle papers1+ have been spectively. The mesoplasma emission seemed
published, each describing a distinct mecha- to be mainly in the infrared.
nism or conditionforlight emission from Twointerestingphenomenaconcerning
uniform junction emission were observed. A
silicon diodes. In each c a s e , speciallypre-
I pared diodes were used for the experiments. situation exists in atransistorknownas
“punch through.” Thiscondition existswhen
~
Theauthorshave foundall three mecha-
I nisms for lightemission in almost everycom- the depletion layer of a reversed biased diode
mercially available transistor which is sili- completely crossesthe base region and makes
con, has a junction exposed (planar, triple contact with its counterpart’s depletion
diffused and alloy diffused construction) layer,resultingin a dynamiccollector-to-
and has a breakdown voltage which is a p emitter short circuit. This phenomenon has
proximately 7u 5 VB5 8Ov. actually been Seen while reverse biasing the
Thegreaterpart of thisinvestigation collector-base diode. Initially, the only light
has been on silicon planar constructed emission observableisfromthis junction,
transistors, since both the emitter-base diode but, at a critical voltage, the light intensity
and collector-base diode are exposed. Each diminishesfromthis junctionand
the
diode was made to glow with reverse bias emitter-base diode glows. On thecurve
tracer, the breakdown curve goes through a
negativeresistance region to a voltage
* Received June 17. 1963. which is 15-20 v lower. Also noticed in
1 A. L. Batdorf. A. G. Chynoweth, G. C. Dacey
and P. W. Gay, ‘Uniform silicon P A junctions: I. several
devices was a uniform emission
Broad area breakdown,* 1. AggI. Phys.. vol. 31. pp. around each supposedly ohmic contact area
1153-1160. July, 1960. on the silicon surface. (See Fig. 2.)
2 D. 1. Rose. ‘MiaoDlasmas i n silicon.” Phvs. Rat..
VOI. 10s; pp. 413-418; j a n ~ , 1s. 1957’. - ’ The authors would like to thank J. W .
I % A .C. English and H. M. Power; “Mesoplasma Mellichamp,fromthis Laboratory, for his
breakdown in silicon junctions,” PROC.IEEE ( C a r e -
p o n d m u ) ~ 0 1 . 5 1 .PP. 500-501: March, 1963. spectroscopic analysis.
1156
(b)
Fig. 1-(a) Photograph showing transistor structure.
(b) Photograph of macroplasma light emission.
Fig. 2-(a) Photograph showing transistor structure.
(b) Photograph of microplasma light emission and
emission from contact area.
E. B. HAKIM
B. REICH
U. S . Army
Semiconductor and Microelectronics Branch
Solid State and Frequency Control Div.
Electronics Researchand Development Lab.
Fort Monmouth, X. J.
PROCEEDINGS O F THE IEEE
The Word “PARAMETER”*
Recenttechnicalarticlesindicate that conversion factor in ( 2 ) is the sum of the
this word has become a vogue word.’ “Every
now andthen a word emerges fromob-
scurity, or even from nothingness or a tors between the Briggsian and the Natural
merely potentialandnotactual existence logarithms are
into sudden popularity. I t is often, but not
necessarily, one that by no means explains
itself to the average manwho has tofind out
its meaning as best he can; his wrestlings
with it have usually some effect upon it; it
does not mean quite what it ought to mean,
but in compensation it means some things
that it ought not to. , . . n
The Oxford English Dictionary definition
of the word is ”Quantity constant in case
considered, but varying in different casesn
The word seems to be used as if it were
synonymouswith“characteristic” or “at-
tribute,’’thusdestroyingitsabilitytobe
used in its correct sense. One writer recently
referred to ”the measured parameter,”
which, if the above definition is to beac-
cepted, is a contradiction in terms.
I n an experiment to determine the change
of tube anode current with changing anode
voltage, the results would be useless unless
certain parameters (e.g., heater and screen
voltage-held constant for anyonerun)
were stated, but the anode voltage and cur- origin of the word “radio,” we wish to give
rentare not parameters in the case con-
sidered.
Theauthor wishes to acknowledge a
previous reference to this subject.*
T. R . W. BUSHBY paper on November 24, 1890.* Some years
Amalgamated Wireless (A/sia) Ltd.
Sydney, N.S.W., Australia
* Received Februa:y 25, 1963.
1 €1. W. Fowler, ‘Modern English Usage.” Oxford
University Press. New York. N.Y.. p. 697; 1950.
2 ‘Plain Words,” Mullard Industrial Valve News- ing “Sulla Conduttivita
letter, no. 34; July. 1961.
A Note on Logarithmic Conversion*
Accidentally we havefound thatthe
base 2 logarithm of a number equals closely
the sum of the Briggsian and the Natural
logarithm of this number so that
log N + In N = log? N . (1)
Exactly,
log N + In N = 0.994,177.log? N . (2)
The conversions
log N
-- - 0,301,030 = 1/3.321,928 (3)
logs N
In N
--
- 0.693,147 = 1/1.442,695
log2 N
necessitate the multiplication of the values
taken from a Briggsian or a Natural log-
arithm table. Instead, sufficient accuracy is
* Received February 18. 1963.
August
obtained by justaddingbothkinds of
logarithms as shown in (1) and (2). The
conversion factors in the center of (3) and
(4). For completeness, the conversion fac-
log -v
_ _--0,434,294 = 1/2.302,585. (5)
In .V
L. V. KRIGER
K. H. HAASE
Electronics Res. Dir.
4 F Cambridge Research Labs.
Office of Aerospace Research
L. G. Hanscom Field
Bedford, Mass.
On the Origin of the Word Radio*
\\’ith reference to theinteresting com-
munication’sentby H . Drubba on the
some details that probablycan be useful
from the historical point of view. The points
are mainly two.
1 ) Professor Branly published his first
before, theItalianscientist, Professor T.
Calzecchi-Onesti (1853-1922), broadly de-
scribed in the review I1 Numo Cimento, in
18848 and in 1885,‘ thebehavior of dis-
continuous conductorsin the presence of elec-
tric radiation. The first paper had the head-
Elettrica delle
LimatureMetalliche” (On the Electrical
Conductivity of Metal Filings).
2) I n the above article the author affirms
that Marconi used the “Branly device” in
his transatlantic transmission experiments.
As far as we know, in his experiments of
December, 1901, he used a mercury ball de-
tector developed by T. Tommasina and as-
sembled by L. Solari at the Italian Kavy
Electric Laboratory a t La Spezia (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1-Scheme of mercury coherer R. Marina (Solari
model) based on the phenomenon discovered by
Tommasina.
A-A-Brass binding posts.
B -Moving iron electrode.
C -Retort coal electrode.
D -Mercury ball.
V - G l a s s tube.
SS -Ebonite base.
* Received March 8 1963
1 H. Drubba. ” O n t i e on& of the word ‘Radio,”’
PRK. IRE (Carcsppadence). vol. 50, pp. 1195-1196;
September 1962.
2 S. R.’ Branly. “Variations de $ conductibilitb
sous diver- influences electrigues. C a p t . rend.
Acad. Sci., Paris. vol. 111. pp. 758-787; November.
1890.
a T. Caizemhi-Onesti, ‘ S d a conduttiviaelet-
trica delle limature metalliche, *I1 Yuow Cimcnlo.
vol. 16. pp. 5 6 4 4 ; October, 1884.
4- “Sulla conduttiviti elettrica delle li-
mature metalliche.” I1 Numo Cimenfo,vol. 17, pp. 38-
42; March 2, 1885.