High‐field domains from dc to 60 GHz

Abstract

The history of the high-field domains is given with the description of the experimental and theoretical results of the team of the author in the first decade after their discovery in 1958. This work is done at CdS single crystal platelets that are used as a model substance. The major findings of modern highfield domain research that followed their original research are then reviewed. It is emphasized that all high-field domains are created for reasons of the minimum entropy production principle when the conductivity decreases more than linear within a semiconductor. The application of these high-field domains in important semiconductor devices are reviewed that have now reached a multibillion dollar market.

physica status solidi − Legacy, Present, and Future

“…Semiconductor physics, including solar cells or other diverse electronic materials and devices, continue to be the main topics covered by pss throughout the decades. They were also Karl Wolfgang Böer's core research area, most prominently through his co‐discovery of the Franz–Keldysh(–Böer) effect and the findings on high‐field domains in CdS, now coined Böer domains . During a period of more than 57 years(!…”