A semi conductive junction device comprises a thin layer of a glassy amorphous material exhibiting one type of conductivity (either N or P) disposed upon a semiconductive substrate possessing the other kind of conductivity. The glassy layer is sufficiently thin that it exhibits a useful level of conductivity. Preferably, the glassy layer is ion impermeable so that the device remains stable under a wide range of operating conditions. These junctions behave as diodes and can be incorporated in a wide variety of complex semiconductive devices.

A solid state amplifier device which comprises contiguous layers of material forming emitter, base, and collector electrodes, preferably, the emitter electrode-forming layer being made of a semiconductor switch material which, when a voltage above a given threshold voltage is applied to opposite sides thereof, switches from a relatively non-conductive to a relatively operative conductive state. In one form of the invention providing maximum amplification, the collector electrode and base electrode-forming layers are made of extrinsic semiconductor materials of opposite conductivity type and, in its conductive state, the switch material of the emitter-forming layer is of the same conductivity type as the collector electrode-forming layer to form a transistor-like device. In another form of the invention, to provide a radiation hard amplifier device, the base electrode and collector electrode-forming layers are also made of a semiconductor switch material of the type described.

The conductivity of a body of ionically impermeable glassy amorphous material is controllably altered by driving or diffusing suitable impurities into the body of material. Impurities are driven into the glassy body by, for example, disposing a source of impurity ions on the surface and applying an electric field across the body. Preferably, the glassy amorphous material is heated so that its temperature is above a thermal diffusion temperature characteristic of the particular material and the particular impurity but is below the temperature at which an appreciable proportion of the impurities would be structurally incorporated into the material. Alternatively, impurities can be driven into a glassy body by ion bombardment. And in some material-impurity combinations, it is sufficient merely to heat the material above the thermal diffusion temperature in the presence of the dopant. The method provided by the invention can be used to render insulating glassy materials effectively semi-conducting or to alter the conductive properties of glassy semiconductors. It can thus be used to produce a wide variety of bulk semiconductor devices such as switches as well as single junction and multiple junction semiconductor devices.

A semiconductive junction device comprises a thin layer of a glassy amorphous material exhibiting one type of conductivity (either N or P) disposed upon a semiconductive substrate possessing the other kind of conductivity. The glassy layer is sufficiently thin that it exhibits a useful level of conductivity. Preferably, the glassy layer is ion impermeable so that the device remains stable under a wide range of operating conditions. These junctions behave as diodes and can be incorporated in a wide variety of complex semiconductive devices.

A three-teminal electronic control device comprising a body of essentially amorphous, semiconducting material defining a primary current path, and a voltage controlled electron emitter interfaced with the body through a thin electrode and an insulator layer to selectively vary the conductivity of the body by injecting high energy charge carries into the body through the electrode. Various applications are disclosed.