Self-Oscillatory Processes in Silicon, Problems and Prospects for Research, and Their Application in Electronics

Research into self-oscillatory processes in semiconductors and semiconductor structures makes it possible to formulate the physical mechanism of these unique phenomena and create solid-state generators and sensors of physical quantities with frequency-amplitude output. It was established that the excitation conditions and parameters of self-oscillations of the current were studied in more detail only in silicon doped with manganese and zinc atoms, as well as in semiconductor compounds CdSe, CdS, InGa and in some structures, while the boundary regions of existence of these current instabilities depending on external factors were not very accurately determined in other materials. This led to the lack of reproducible results and a discrepancy in the correlation between the electrical parameters of the material and the parameters of self-oscillations of the current (amplitude, frequency). In this regard, the results of comprehensive studies of self-oscillations of current in silicon doped with impurity atoms of manganese, zinc, sulfur, and selenium are presented. A physical mechanism of current self-oscillations is proposed, which is in good agreement with the known experimental results obtained.