Noise Characteristics of Superlattice Energy Filters and Multi-Color Infrared Detection Using Quantum Well Microstructure

Abstract

This report describes the result from a systematic study on a new device structure, the corrugated quantum well infrared photodetector (C-QWIP), which is designed to couple normal incident radiation into the quantum well structures. The C-QWIP structure is an array of QWIP wires with slant sidewalls, fabricated by etching V-grooves through the detector active region down to the bottom contact. It utilizes total internal reflection at the sidewalls of these QWIP wires to create favorable optical polarization for absorption. We have demonstrated that it has higher coupling efficiency in comparison with the standard 45 deg edge coupled device. Also, the coupling efficiency is independent of pixel size and wavelength. In addition, due to partial removal of the active material, the dark current of the detector is reduced significantly. The combination of photocurrent increase and dark current decrease results in a larger photocurrent to dark current ratio rI, and thus a higher D(*) and a smaller NEdeltaT in array applications.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 08, 1998
Accession Number
ADA358197

Entities

People

  • Daniel C. Tsui

Organizations

  • Princeton University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Couplings
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Efficiency
  • Electrical Engineering
  • High Resolution
  • Infrared Detection
  • Materials
  • Optical Detection
  • Physics
  • Quantum Wells
  • Radiation
  • Standards
  • Superlattices
  • Total Internal Reflection

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Microwave Engineering.
  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Quantum Computing