Theoretical study of a potential low-noise semimetal-based avalanche photodetector

Author

Wang, Yang ; Mansour, Nabil ; Salem, Ali ; Brennan, Kevin F. ; Ruden, P.Paul

Author_Institution

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

Volume

28

Issue

2

fYear

1992

fDate

2/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

507

Lastpage

513

Abstract

The authors present a theoretical analysis of a possible avalanching photodetector (APD)-based on II-VI compound semiconductors. Each unit cell is composed of a HgTe layer, or a similar semimetal, sandwiched between two layers of CdTe and HgCdTe or similar semiconducting materials. The barrier layers are graded so that the leading barrier height is just high enough to eliminate the thermionic emission dark current out of the well. The use of a semimetal within the well has a distinct advantage over a semiconductor, which is that the ionization process is essentially an interband mechanism since the confined carriers within the well lie within the overlapping conduction and valence bands. As a result, the concentration of target carriers is virtually inexhaustible as in a conventional interband device

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; avalanche photodiodes; cadmium compounds; carrier density; mercury compounds; photodetectors; random noise; semimetals; CdTe; HgCdTe; HgTe layer; II-VI compound semiconductors; avalanche photodiodes; barrier layers; carrier concentration; conduction bands; interband mechanism; ionization process; leading barrier height; low-noise semimetal-based avalanche photodetector; semiconductor device models; target carriers; thermionic emission dark current; unit cell; valence bands; Carrier confinement; Charge carrier processes; Dark current; Electrons; Impact ionization; Photodetectors; Potential well; Semiconductor device noise; Semiconductor materials; Superlattices;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.123280

Filename

123280