Patent ID: 7898042

Claim:
An electronic device comprising: a substrate; a plurality of two-terminal switching devices disposed on the substrate, wherein each two-terminal switching device comprises: a first electrode comprising a layer of first conductive material, having a first work function; a layer of a broad band semiconducting material physically separate from the layers of semiconducting material on other of the two-terminal switching devices; and a second electrode comprising a layer of a second conductive material, having a second work function, wherein the second conductive material comprises a material having a p+ or p++ type conductivity; wherein at least a portion of the semiconductor layer resides between the first and second conductive materials; and wherein; the energy difference between a Fermi level of the first conductive material and the lowest energy level of a conduction band of the broad band semiconducting material is not greater than about 0.3 eV; the band gap of the broad band semiconductor is at least about 2.5 eV and the carrier concentration in the broad band semiconductor is less than about 10 18 cm −3 ; the carrier concentration in the second conducting material is at least about 10 18 cm −3 ; the work function magnitude of the second conductive material is at least about 0.6 eV greater than the work function magnitude of the first conductive material; and the energy barrier between the lowest energy level of the conduction band of the p+ or p++ conducting material and the lowest energy level of the conduction band of the broad-band semiconductor material is about 0.3 eV or less.