Optically driven photoconductive devices for power switching application. 1. Theory and experimental results

The photoconductive circuit element (PCE) can be made relatively compact, can hold off a large voltage when the light is off and can conduct a large current when the light is on. Thus the PCE is an attractive device for power switching applications. The authors have designed, fabricated and measured several prototype (scaled-down) PCEs to study the feasibility of using such devices for power-switching purposes. Physical insights and theoretical analysis are also discussed. Qualitative agreements are found between experimental data and the results calculated from a recently developed numerical model