4H-SiC metal–semiconductor–metal ultraviolet photodetectors with Ni/ITO electrodes

Indium–tin-oxide (ITO), Ni/ITO and Ni layers were deposited onto glass and/or SiC substrates by DC sputtering under different deposition conditions. SiC-based metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors were also fabricated using these materials as contract electrodes. It was found that ITO film deposited without oxygen gas could provide us a better optical property and a better electrical property. It was also found that the dark current of the ITO/SiC MSM UV photodetector was extremely large. Furthermore, it was found that the insertion of a 10 nm Ni layer could significantly reduce the dark current. It was also found that the photo-current to dark current contrast was more than 3 orders of magnitude with a 5 V applied bias for the SiC MSM UV photodetector with 10 nm Ni/90 nm ITO contact electrodes. With an even larger 40 V applied bias, the photo-current to dark current contrast could almost reach 4 orders of magnitude.     

Far-infrared electroluminescence characteristics of an InGaP/InGaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cell under forward DC bias

The far-infrared electroluminescence characteristics of an InGaP/InGaAs/Ge solar cell are investigated under forward DC bias at room temperature in dark conditions. An electroluminescence viewgraph shows the clear device structures, and the electroluminescence intensity is shown to increases exponentially with bias voltage and linearly with bias current. The results can be interpreted using an equivalent circuit of a single ideal diode model for triple-junction solar cells. The good fit between the measured and calculated data proves the above conclusions. This work is of guiding significance for current solar cell testing and research.     

Long-wavelength In0.53Ga0.47As metamorphicp-i-n photodiodes on GaAs substrates

Metamorphic In_0.53Ga_0.47As p-i-n photodiodes on GaAs substrate exhibiting the lowest dark current ever reported were fabricated and characterized. Their dark current, DC and RF performances were measured and compared for devices of different sizes. Typical dark current for 15-μm-diameter devices was 600 pA under 5-V reverse bias, corresponding to a dark current density of 3.40×10^-4 A/cm². Typical responsivity measured with 1.55-μm optical radiation was 0.55 A/W corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of 44%. The electrical 3 dB bandwidths of the photodiodes with diameters smaller than 20 μm were over 20 GHz     

Operation Principles of 0.18-$muhboxm$Four-Transistor CMOS Image Pixels With a Nonfully Depleted Pinned Photodiode

The operation principles of the four-transistor (4-TR) pixel CMOS image sensor, fabricated by 0.18-mum technology, were investigated by pixel-level characterization utilizing a single-pixel test pattern. It was found that the pixel's dark current level is strongly influenced by the gate bias (V_TX(on)) of the transfer (TX) transistor at a fixed supply voltage (V_DD). The largest dark current occurred at a conventional bias condition of V_TX(on)=V_DD=2.5V, but the dark current level was reduced by less than one-third at V_TX(on)=2.1V without degrading the pixel's charge transfer capabilities. Attributed to the dark current reduction, the fixed-pattern noise (FPN) of pixel was also decreased by up to 13.3 dB. These improvements can be explained by the more effective reset of pinned photodiode (PPD) at V_TX(on)=2.1V, especially in the pixel with V_DD of 2.5 V or lower in which the full depletion of PPD becomes more and more difficult. In this bias condition, namely nonfully depletion PPD condition, the TX transistor was proven to operate in the "deepest depletion" mode by effectively suppressing the electron injection from floating diffusion node to channel. Moreover, various driving signals to the TX transistor were applied to do more detailed physical analysis of the pixel operation. Since the dark current and FPN are main bottlenecks in most CMOS image sensors, the proposed method is expected to efficiently improve the performance of 4-TR CMOS image pixels under 2.5 V or lower operational voltages     

Direct comparison of charge transport and electronic traps in polymer–fullerene blends under dark and illuminated conditions

A direct comparison of charge transport and electronic traps in representative polymer–fullerene blend, poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and 1-(3-methoxycarbonyl)-propyl-1-phenyl-(6,6)C61 (PCBM), is carried out in dark and illuminated conditions based on the measurements of temperature-dependent current–voltage characteristics. In dark condition, the charge transport presents a transition from Ohmic to trap-limited current. While the trap-filled space charge limited current is observed under illumination at the same applied bias. From evaluations of trap density and energy distribution by a differential method, it is reveal that the diverse charge transport in dark and illuminated conditions is mainly caused by the different trap states distribution, which strongly affects the space charges and the electrical field in P3HT: PCBM blends.     

Thermal cycling-induced changes in excess dark current in very long-wavelength HgCdTe photodiodes at low temperature

We have observed cooldown-to-cooldown changes in the reverse-bias dark current of some very long-wavelength (cutoff >14 μm) HgCdTe P-on-n heterojunction photodiodes operated at very low temperatures (40–45 K). Other photodiodes in the same arrays are stable between cooldowns. The unstable ones have high dark currents, in the tail of the dark current distribution. Current-voltage analysis indicates that the high dark current is caused by trap-assisted tunneling and that the number of traps changes from cooldown to cooldown. Devices with negligible trap-assisted tunneling current, limited by diffusion and band-to-band tunneling currents at reverse bias, are stable between cooldowns. Both types of devices are stable within a given cooldown over periods of at least 24 h.     

Characterization of high purity GaAs far-infrared photoconductors

In this paper we report the results of an extensive study on the far-infrared photoconductivity of high purityn-type GaAs. The crystal, which was grown at Max-Plank-Institute for Solid State Physics using liquid-phase epitaxy, exhibited the fine structures of the excited state transitions of the residual shallow level impurities. The major peak in the spectral response belongs to the 1s-2p transition, with its responsivity about thirty five times higher than the continuum. At 3.4K detector temperature, 625 mV bias, and 100 Hz chopping frequency the detector responsivity at 35.4 cm^?1 (279 µm) was measured to be 0.017 A/W. Under these same conditions, the NEP was 5.9×10^?14 W/√Hz. The (DC) dark current at 25 mV bias was 5.6×10^?14 A.     

Dependence of timing jitter on bias level for single-modesemiconductor lasers under high speed operations

The dependence on the bias level of some quantities characterizing optical pulse statistics, such as the turn-on time, pulsewidth, maximum output photon number, and average output power, of single-mode semiconductor lasers is numerically analyzed at frequencies in the gigahertz range. Periodic modulation and pseudorandom word modulation are considered. In the former regime, timing jitter is shown to be rather independent of the bias current. In the latter regime, timing jitter becomes larger when biasing above threshold than when biasing below threshold. This larger jitter is found to be associated with a bimodal probability distribution of the turn-on time, which yields undesirable pattern effects. A privileged bias, slightly below threshold, suppresses these pattern effects making the laser response almost independent of previous input bits. For such bias value the probability distribution functions of the turn-on time in the case of the periodic and pseudorandom word modulation coincide     

32×32 ultraviolet Al0.1Ga0.9N/GaN p-i-nphotodetector array

We report the fabrication and performance of a 32×32 Al_0.1Ga_0.9N-GaN ultraviolet p-i-n photodetector array. The devices exhibit very low dark current, the mean dark current density is ~4 nA/cm² at 5-V reverse bias, and the dark current distribution is very uniform (~98% of the devices exhibit dark current density <90 nA/cm²). Owing to the design of the p-Al_0.13Ga_0.87N window layer, the external quantum efficiency is as high as 72% at 357 nm. The photocurrent distribution is also presented. The detectivity is estimated to be as high as 8×10 ¹⁴ cm·Hz^1/2·W^-1     

InAlSb红外光电二极管性能研究

在InSb衬底上利用分子束外延生长了p-i-n结构的InAlSb/InSb材料,通过在吸收层和接触层之间生长宽禁带的InAlSb势垒层,验证了势垒层对耗尽层中暗电流的抑制作用。分别基于外延生长的InAlSb材料和InSb体材料,借助标准工艺制备出二极管,并对其电性能进行测量分析,研究发现:77 K温度时,在-0.1 V的外偏电压下,p+-p+-n--n+结构和p+-n--n+结构InAlSb器件的反偏电流分别为3.410-6 Acm-2和7.810-6 Acm-2。基于p+-p+-n--n+结构研制的InAlSb二极管的暗电流保持在一个很低的水平,这为提高红外探测器的工作温度提供了重要基础。     

能用于微弱光探测的硅光敏器件

讨论了光电二极管工作于零偏压模式,制作能探测微弱光的光电晶体管和达林顿光电晶体管,提高了第一级光电二极管的光暗电流比值和晶体管在小电流下的放大倍数 h_(FE)。     

不同退火处理的台面型In0.83Ga0.17As pin光电二极管暗电流分析

为了研究延伸波长In0.83Ga0.17As pin光电二极管的暗电流机制。采用两种不同工艺制备了台面型延伸波长In0.83Ga0.17As pin光电二极管。第一种工艺(M135L-5)是:台面刻蚀后进行快速热退火(RTA)。第二种工艺(M135L-3)是:台面刻蚀前进行快速热退火(RTA)。采用IV测试,周长面积比(P/A),激活能和暗电流成分拟合方法对器件暗电流机制进行分析。结果显示,在220~300 K之间,M135L-3器件暗电流低于M135L-5器件的,并且具有较低表面漏电流。在-0.01~-0.5 V之间和220~270 K之间,M135L-5器件的暗电流主要是扩散电流。在250~300 K之间,M135L-3器件的暗电流主要是扩散电流,而在-0.01~-0.5 V之间和220~240 K之间,其暗电流主要是产生复合电流和表面复合电流。与此同时,暗电流成分拟合结果也得出一致的结论。研究表明,在降低器件暗电流方面,M135L-3器件优于M135L-5器件,这主要是因为快速热退火降低了器件的体电流。     

Analysis of Current–Voltage Measurements on Long-Wavelength HgCdTe Photodiodes Fabricated on Si Composite Substrates

We have performed a detailed study of dark current versus voltage to understand existing limitations in dark current and address the nonuniformity of dark current in devices fabricated on HgCdTe grown on silicon substrates. One interesting observation is that trap-assisted tunneling, g-r currents, are not found close to zero bias in certain devices. Devices from the low end of the R ₀ A distribution show heavy shunting paths close to zero bias. We believe that these shunting paths may be the limiting cause of tail distributions in fabricated focal plane array tail distributions. Possible causes for these shunting paths are surface charges associated with dislocation cores and impurity gettering at dislocation cores. The measured non-anti-reflection (AR)-coated quantum efficiency (QE) was 0.576 at 78 K and displays the classical response versus wavelength. The measured QE on isolated single devices is consistent with the 256 × 256 focal-plane array mean QE. Obtained average dark currents are on the order of mid 10⁻⁵ A cm^–2, which is one order of magnitude higher than dark currents obtained from arrays on lattice-matched substrates. On average, arrays on lattice-mismatched substrates show performance characteristics inferior to those of arrays fabricated on lattice-matched substrates. This inferior performance is due to array pixel operability, as can be seen from the tail of the distribution and the average dark currents, which are one order of magnitude higher than those obtained on lattice-matched substrates.     

Calibration Enabled Scalable Current Sensor Module for Quiescent Current Testing

Semiconductor testing is aimed at screening fabrication defects that impact expected functionality. While catastrophic defects result in non working devices, parametric faults result in marginalities and are of increasing concern with deep sub-micron process technologies. This work presents a scheme to monitor Circuit-Under-Test (CUT) static bias current to identify catastrophic as well as parametric faults. All circuits require a deterministic amount of DC bias current which may vary outside the specifications when faults exist within the circuit. We propose a compensated current measurement Built-in-Current-Sensor (BICS) scheme, which can be used for sub-system level/circuit-level bias current measurements. The BICS provides accessibility to internal blocks and enables isolated parametric testing. Calibration routine enables process independence and provides robustness. The BICS is compatible with Very-Low-Cost Automatic Test Equipment (VLC-ATE), and can be used for detailed parametric testing in the production environment.     

InGaAs PIN光电探测器的暗电流特性研究

从理论上分析了In0.53Ga0.47As PIN光电探测器在不同掺杂浓度及反向偏压下的暗电流特性,并与研制的器件的实测结果进行了比较和讨论.模拟结果表明:在低偏压下,器件中的产生复合电流起主要作用,偏压增大时,隧道电流起主要作用,且In0.53Ga0.47As光吸收层的载流子浓度对器件的暗电流有很大的影响,实测器件特性与模拟结果完全符合.文中还对器件结面积和电极尺寸等对暗电流的影响进行了比较和分析.     

Dark Current Characteristics of a Radiation Detector Array Developed Using MOVPE-Grown Thick CdTe Layers on Si Substrate

We present reverse bias current (dark current) characteristics of a two-dimensional monolithic pixel-type nuclear radiation detector array fabricated using metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE)-grown thick CdTe epitaxial layers on Si substrate. The (14?×?8) pixel array was formed by cutting deep vertical trenches using a dicing saw, where each pixel possesses a p-CdTe/ n-CdTe/n ⁺-Si heterojunction diode structure. The dark currents showed pixel-to-pixel variations when measured at higher applied biases exceeding 100?V. The dark current had a dependence on the pixel thickness, where pixels with lower CdTe thickness exhibited higher currents. Moreover, the temperature dependence of the dark current revealed that a deep level with activation energy of around 0.6?eV is responsible for the observed dark currents and their pixel-to-pixel variation. We discuss that the effective ratio of Te to Cd at the growth surface is a major factor that controls the thickness variation, and is also responsible for the formation of 0.6?eV deep levels.     

A Superlattice Infrared Photodetector Integrated With Multiple Quantum Wells to Improve the Performance

An infrared photodetector using the structure of a 15-period superlattice (SL) integrated with 50-period multiple quantum wells (MQWs) is investigated. The MQWs are utilized to reduce the noise current power and to add the response range. From the results of current ratio and response, the photocurrent of the SL is not reduced by the additional MQWs but the dark current is. Hence, due to the low noise gain and low dark current, the maximum detectivity (D^*) can occur at low negative bias. In addition, the photovoltaic response even appears at 80 K. It is observed that the photoelectron transport directions from the SL and the MQWs are opposite under zero bias. In comparison with the SL with a single barrier, this structure also demonstrates the higher photocurrent and lower dark current. From our experimental results, this structure is appropriate for the operation at low bias and high temperature. However, the tradeoff is the small operational voltage range     

InAlAs/InGaAs调制掺杂场效应晶体管研究

从理论上和实验上对InAlAs/InGaAs调制掺杂场效应晶体管(MODFET)进行了研究。建立了简单的一维电荷控制模型,并进行二维数值模拟,得到了不同偏压下器件内部电势分布和电子浓度分布。在上述理论的指导下,设计了我们所需要的器件纵向和横向结构,并对设计器件的直流特性进行了计算机辅助分析。最后叙述了利用国产Ⅳ型MBE设备生长的材料制作出MODFET的工艺过程,并对器件的直流特性和射频特性进行了测试和分析。直流测试表明,器件的最大饱和电流密度为125mA/mm,最大非本征跨导达250mS/mm;射频测试得到器件(L_g=1.0～1.2βm,W_g=150μm)的特征频率f_T为26GHz,最高振荡频率f_(max)为43GHz。     

Simulation and optimization of a 6H-SiC metal-semiconductor-metal ultraviolet photodetector

Based on thermionic emission theory,a model of a 6H-SiC metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) ultraviolet photodetector is established with the simulation package ISE-TCAD.A device with 3μm electrode width (W) and 3μm electrode spacing (L) is simulated.The findings show that the MSM photodetector has quite a low dark current of 15 pA at 10 V bias and the photocurrent is two orders of magnitude higher than the dark current.The influences of different structures on dark and illuminated current-voltage characteristics of the MSM photodetector are investigated to optimize the device parameters.Simulation results indicate that the maximum photocurrent and the highest ratio of photocurrent to dark current at 15 V bias are 5,3 nA and 327 with device parameters of W = 6μm,L=3μm and W =3μm,L = 6μm,respectively.     

A switching power amplifier with feedback for improving total harmonic distortion

A high efficiency and low distortion and switching power amplifier is proposed. We use feedback to reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD) and the DC output bias current. The experimental results show that the proposed circuit has 0.24% total harmonic distortion and 91% power efficiency while the DC output bias current is 12 μA at 1.5 V supply voltage.