Responsivity, Detectivity, And High-Frequency Performance Of Reverse Biased Photoconductive N-I-P-I Detectors

G. H. Dohler; P. Kiesel; M. Heibmeier; G. Pototzky; P. Riel; J. Fouquet; J. N. Miller; G. Trott; J. Williamson

doi:10.1117/12.947305

18 August 1988 Responsivity, Detectivity, And High-Frequency Performance Of Reverse Biased Photoconductive N-I-P-I Detectors

G. H. Dohler, P. Kiesel, M. Heibmeier, G. Pototzky, P. Riel, J. Fouquet, J. N. Miller, G. Trott, J. Williamson

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 0943, Quantum Well and Superlattice Physics II; (1988) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.947305
Event: Advances in Semiconductors and Superconductors: Physics and Device Applications, 1988, Newport Beach, CA, United States

Abstract

The long electron-holes recombination lifetime in n-i-p-i doping superlattices results in an extremely high photoconductive gain. Also the detectivity is very high, due to low generation-recombination noise and low dark conductance. However, the photoresponse becomes non-linear at relatively low optical power and turns into a logarithmic power dependence as the recombination lifetime decreases exponentially. This draw-back can be overcome by externally adjusting the recombination lifetime. This can be achieved by an appropriatelY chosen resistor Rext between n- and p-type selective contacts which provides an external recombination channel. This improvement, however, is usually at the expence of responsivity and noise performance. Recently, we have found that high responsivity and detectivity can be maintained and at the same time the linearity range can be extended to many orders of magnitude in optical powerextif the photoconductive n-i-p-i detector is operated at reverse bias with high values of Rext. This advantage is due to the low n-p leakage currents which are nearly independent of the reverse bias within a wide range. We document this break-through by our recent photoresponse measurements under d.c. and high-frequency conditions. Extensions of the concept to build detectors with gain much larger than 10 at bit rates significantly above 1GHz will be discussed briefly.

Citation Download Citation

G. H. Dohler, P. Kiesel, M. Heibmeier, G. Pototzky, P. Riel, J. Fouquet, J. N. Miller, G. Trott, and J. Williamson "Responsivity, Detectivity, And High-Frequency Performance Of Reverse Biased Photoconductive N-I-P-I Detectors", Proc. SPIE 0943, Quantum Well and Superlattice Physics II, (18 August 1988); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.947305

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