MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION OF GAAS OPTICALLY ACTIVATED SWITCHES

We have calculated the current response of a sub-micron GaAs optical switch to light pulses of two different intensities and of wavelengths 799 nm, 734 nm and 633 nm using the Monte Carlo method. We found that the effect of increasing the energy of the incident radiation was to cause a significant lengthening and broadening of the initial transient current response, whilst the effect of increasing the intensity of incident radiation was to delay the rate at which the device could be cleared of charge carriers. We have examined effects of displacement current in addition to the carrier current. The net current shows interesting structure which may have been observed experimentally.