Theoretical analysis of confined quantum state GaAs/AlGaAs solid-state photomultipliers

Author

Wang, Yang ; Park, Duke H. ; Brennan, Kevin F.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

Volume

26

Issue

2

fYear

1990

fDate

2/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

285

Lastpage

295

Abstract

A detailed theoretical analysis of the design considerations of a solid-state photomultiplier based on avalanche multiplication of carriers out of confined quantum states is presented. Since these devices are unipolar, much lower noise and higher speed of performance are anticipated as compared with interband avalanche photodiodes. As an example of the design criteria for confined-state photomultipliers, a GaAs/Al_0.32Ga_0.68As multiquantum well structure is analyzed as to impact ionization rate, gain, dark current, and multiplied dark current. It is found that the highest gain is achieved in an asymmetric quantum well structure in which the second barrier height is half as large as the initial barrier height. The gain is further evaluated for a symmetric quantum well device. The effects of the applied electric field, quantum well doping concentration, and layer widths on device performance are examined

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; gallium arsenide; photomultipliers; semiconductor quantum wells; GaAs-AlGaAs; applied electric field; asymmetric quantum well; avalanche multiplication; carrier multiplication; confined quantum state; confined-state photomultipliers; dark current; gain; high performance speeds; impact ionization rate; initial barrier height; interband avalanche photodiodes; layer widths; lower noise; multiplied dark current; multiquantum well structure; quantum well doping concentration; second barrier height; solid-state photomultipliers; symmetric quantum well device; unipolar; Avalanche photodiodes; Carrier confinement; Dark current; Doping; Gallium arsenide; Impact ionization; Photomultipliers; Potential well; Quantum mechanics; Solid state circuits;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.44960

Filename

44960