Full bandstructure modeling of quantum well infrared photodetectors

Full bandstructure modeling of quantum well infrared photodetectors is presented. This model includes the effects from the non-parabolic bandstructure, which is described by a tight-binding model. The quantum transmitting boundary method and retarded Green function are used to determine the bound states and quasi-bound state in the quantum well. Analytic and numerical methods are employed to resolve the density of bound and continuum states. The momentum matrix elements are extracted by comparing with a k·p model. Several samples with different quantum well structures are studied. The peak wavelength of the spectrum predicted by this model shows a good agreement with the experimental data