Analytical modeling and numerical simulation of the short-wave infrared electron-injection detectors

Movassaghi, Yashar; Fathipour, Vala; Fathipour, Morteza; Mohseni, Hooman

doi:10.1063/1.4944602

Cited by 17 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our experimental studies as well as simulation results Movassaghi et al, 2016) demonstrated that in order to achieve very low dark current and fast response time, in a single device, it is necessary to physically separate individual pixels. This results in a pre-defined active area for each detector and allows the charge localization dynamics to be accurately controlled with the active area of each detector.…”

Section: Second-generation Resultsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…As shown in Movassaghi et al (2016), the charging rate of the GaAsSb trapping layer by electrons (and the neutralizing holes) is ultimately limited by the minority-electron lifetime in the GaAsSb layer (τe). The ultimate bandwidth of device is thus dictated by the electron lifetime in the GaAsSb layer.…”

Section: Detection Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The pulse response is shown in Figure 11. As mentioned in "Detection Mechanism" section it is worth noting that due to the feedback stabilized gain mechanism, electron-injection detectors do not suffer from afterpulsing and their ultimate bandwidth is limited by minority-carrier lifetime in the GaAsSb layer (~1-10 ns reported in the literature) (Movassaghi et al, 2016).…”

Section: Rise Time and Jittermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analytical expressions are derived for the electron-injection detector optical gain to qualitatively explain the significance of scaling the injector with respect to the trapping/absorbing layers. Detailed information of the effect of scaling the injector with respect to absorber on rise time, dark current and gain can be found from Movassaghi et al (2016). Devices with about ten times smaller injector area with respect to the trapping/absorbing layer areas show more than an order of magnitude lower dark current, as well as an order of magnitude higher optical gain compared with devices of same size injector and trapping/absorbing layer areas.…”

Section: Impact Of the Unique Three-dimensional Geometry On The Perfomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Detector output pulse is intrinsically proportional to the number of photons absorbed (Memis et al, 2008b(Memis et al, , 2010aFathipour et al, 2013a;Fathipour and Mohseni, 2015b). Due to the different charge-carrier multiplication process compared to an APD, EI detectors have typically a lower bandwidth [approximately few nano second rise time at 20 μW optical power at 1550 nm (Movassaghi et al, 2016)]. Nonetheless, detector can achieve a higher theoretical bandwidth, once its structure is optimized.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Advances on Sensitive Electron-Injection Based Cameras for Low-Flux, Short-Wave Infrared Applications

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Short-wave infrared (SWIR) photon detection has become an essential technology in the modern world. Sensitive SWIR detector arrays with high pixel density, low noise levels, and high signal-to-noise-ratios are highly desirable for a variety of applications including biophotonics, light detection and ranging, optical tomography, and astronomical imaging. As such many efforts in infrared detector research are directed toward improving the performance of the photon detectors operating in this wavelength range. We review the history, principle of operation, present status, and possible future developments of a sensitive SWIR detector technology, which has demonstrated to be one of the most promising paths to high pixel density focal plane arrays (FPAs) for low flux applications. The so-called electron-injection (EI) detector was demonstrated for the first time in 2007. It offers an overall system-level sensitivity enhancement compared to the p-i-n diode due to a stable internal avalanche-free gain. The amplification method is inherently low noise, and devices exhibit an excess noise of unity. The detector operates in linear-mode and requires only bias voltage of a few volts. This together with the feedback stabilized gain mechanism, makes formation of large-format high pixel density electr on-injection FPAs less challenging compared to other detector technologies such as avalanche photodetectors. Detector is based on the mature InP material system and has a cutoff wavelength of 1700 nm. The layer structure consists of 500 nm InP injector/50 nm InAlAs etch stop/50 nm GaAsSb electron barrier (and hole trap)/1 μm InGaAs absorber. The epitaxial layers are grown on InP substrates. Electron-injection detector takes advantage of a unique three-dimensional geometry and combines the efficiency of a large absorbing volume with the sensitivity of a low-dimensional switch (injector) to sense and amplify signals. EI detectors have been designed, fabricated, and tested during two generations of development and optimization cycles. We review our imager results using the firstgeneration detectors. In the second-generation devices, the dark current is reduced by two orders of magnitude, and bandwidth is improved by four orders of magnitude. The dark current density of the second-generation EI detector is shown to outperform the stateof-the-art technology, the SWIR HgCdTe eAPD by more than one order of magnitude. We demonstrate a performance comparison with other SWIR detector technologies with internal amplification and show that the electron-injection detectors offer more than three orders of magnitude better noise-equivalent sensitivity compared with state-of-the-art phototransistors operating at similar temperature. Second-generation devices provide high-speed response ~6 ns rise time, low jitter ~12 ps, high amplification of more than FiGURe 1 | The trend in noise reduction for state-of-the-art SwiR imaging arrays with cutoff wavelength (λc) ~1-1.5 μm over the past 30 years: the equivalent input noise of the ROiC determines the ...

show abstract

Section: Second-generation Resultsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Detection Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rise Time and Jittermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Impact Of the Unique Three-dimensional Geometry On The Perfomentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations