N‐ or S‐type switching in the I‐V characteristics of semiconductor resistive bars immersed in liquid nitrogen occur if the I2R power per surface area generated in the semiconductor exceeds a certain threshold value. Such switching has been consistently misinterpreted and attributed to field‐enhanced trapping. This communication briefly explains the thermal switching, identifies numerous errors in the literature, and describes an experiment to distinguish bertween thermal and electronic switching.
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1977
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