Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2011
The photo-field emission properties of semiconductors at a very strong electric field together with tunnel electron emission in metal-insulator-semiconductor heterostructures with a tunneltransparent layer of an insulator was studied. It was found that a self-consistent quantum well near the surface of semiconductor emitter tips can change the spectral region of photosensitivity of the radiation semiconductor field emitter detectors, and leads to the significant increase in their photosensitivity [1]. Also the appearance of a self-consistent quantum well near the semiconductor surface is the key factor which allows to use the metal-insulator heterojunction in the development of an Auger transistor based on the Al-SiO2-n-Si structure - the fastest operation semiconductor bipolar transistor [2–4]. Conditions for appearance of a self-consistent quantum well under strong electric field in both the near-surface region of a vacuum semiconductor field-emitter and metal-insulator-semiconductor heterostructures (Auger transistor) were studied also.