Current-induced light modulation using quantum wells in the collector of heterojunction bipolar transistors

Author

Shamir, Nachum ; Ritter, Dan ; Gershoni, David

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Technion - Israel Inst. of Technol., Haifa, Israel

Volume

40

Issue

4

fYear

2004

fDate

4/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

394

Lastpage

399

Abstract

We incorporated InGaAs quantum wells within the collector of InP-based heterojunction bipolar transistors to form novel light-modulating devices. We studied the properties of these devices as light modulators by direct current injection. The devices were characterized using differential photocurrent and transmission spectroscopies. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of light modulation based on current rather than electric field modulation. Maximum modulation is achieved when the accumulated carriers quench the excitonic absorption resonance.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; electroabsorption; heterojunction bipolar transistors; indium compounds; optical modulation; photoconductivity; quantum well devices; semiconductor quantum wells; HBT collector; InGaAs quantum wells; InP-InGaAsP; current-induced light modulation; differential photocurrent; direct current injection; excitonic absorption resonance; heterojunction bipolar transistors; light modulators; light-modulating devices; transmission spectroscopies; Absorption; Carrier confinement; Electrons; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Indium gallium arsenide; Optical modulation; Photoconductivity; Quantum well devices; Spectroscopy; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2004.825116

Filename

1278607