The dc, steady state charge transport in 200-μm-thick semi-insulating GaAs samples with two large whole area metal contacts is calculated numerically. The material is assumed to have shallow donors and an excess of deep acceptors. The distributions of the space charge density and of electron and hole conductivities are calculated for different electron and hole-supplying contacts with different bias voltages. It is found that the contact which injects majority carriers into the semiconductor due to the voltage bias determines the distribution of the space charge density in a greater volume of the sample than the other contact. Consequently, this contact is decisive for the space distribution of the electric field and the shape of the current–voltage (I–V) characteristic. Comparison is made with experimental observations of the I–V characteristics of one of our detector of particles.
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