CHARGE CARRIER DYNAMICS AND OPTICAL HALL EFFECT IN MULTI-VALLEY SEMICONDUCTORS FOR MID-INFRARED DETECTOR APPLICATIONS
Abstract
The Air Force has a need to reduce the cost, weight, size, and power consumption of mid-wave infrared light detectors to increase capabilities in image and data capture and transmission for ground, air, and space-based applications in surveillance, communications, target discrimination, and autonomous navigation. This need requires the development of novel materials for silicon photonics, such as alloys of the elements silicon, germanium, and tin (SiGeSn), which can be easily integrated with silicon electronics to reduce cost. Such semiconductor materials usually have multiple species of free charge carriers, with electronic transport properties that are not well understood. This project will perform optical measurements over a broad spectral range from 0.001 to 8.0 eV (from the Terahertz to the vacuum-ultraviolet) using polarized white light sources, ultrafast lasers, and in a magnetic field to learn more about the properties of these charge carriers. The temperature during measurements will be varied from 1.5 to 1000 K to study the collisions of charge carriers with the crystal lattice. The benefits of this work will be improved designs and simulations of mid-wave infrared light detectors. Device engineers will use the scattering rates, effective masses, and mobilities determined in this project to calculate the sensitivity and speed of photodetectors. Students at the participating institutions will learn relevant skills in need by the federal laboratories in New Mexico.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2021
- Source ID
- FA95502010135
Entities
People
- Stefan Zollner
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- New Mexico State University
- United States Air Force