HIGH-SPEED, LONG-WAVELENGTH COHERENT RADIATION DETECTORS

Abstract

The principal consideration in the heterodyne mode of signal detection is the influence of the local oscillator power on detector characteristics. It is shown that misalignment of the local oscillator signal can seriously degrade detection performance with the detector geometry presently used. For signals incident through transparent contacts, misalignment problems are removed. Characteristics of transparent contacts are reported. It has been established that dielectric relaxation time constant effects occur above a certain electric field. These effects, as well as nonlinearities of signal and detector resistance changes, occur at fields for which the drift length of holes is comparable to the electrode separation. This has been shown to be valid by examining detectors having different thicknesses and material having a wide range of carrier lifetimes. Mercury-doped germanium samples which have been subjected to gallium diffusions have larger activation energies than untreated material. This change has been identified with copper gettering by the gallium- diffused surface layer.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1967
Accession Number
AD0663749

Entities

People

  • R. L. Williams

Organizations

  • Texas Instruments

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Background Radiation
  • Coherent Radiation
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Electric Fields
  • Electrodes
  • Elements
  • Frequency
  • Geometry
  • Heat Of Activation
  • Local Oscillators
  • Long Wavelengths
  • Materials
  • Oscillators
  • Radiation
  • Resistance
  • Thickness

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Microwave Engineering.
  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics