Behaviour of light emission in a semiconductor gas discharge IR image converter

Abstract

Light emission in the UV and visible (blue) range (330–440 nm) generated by an IR image converter and the possibility of locally increasing the gas discharge light emission for a given photosensitivity of a planar GaAs semiconductor photocathode were studied. The use of metallic patched concentrators with an area of S = 5 × 10−4 cm2 and a density of 400 cm−2 and an IR light to excite the photocathode of the system leads to a fivefold increase in the gas discharge light intensity. In a system with metallic patched concentrators, the local density of gas-discharge light exceeds the density of uniform gas-discharge light in an IR image converter by the same factor by which the working area of the photocathode exceeds the total area of the current concentrators. Moreover, the use of metallic patched concentrators prolongs the working time of the photocathode. The filamentation was primarily due to the formation of a space charge of positive ions in the discharge gap, which changed the discharge from the Townsend to the glow type.

Theoretical and Experimental Exploration of Breakdown Phenomena in an Argon-Filled GaP Device

“…Indeed, the effect of c is not exactly known for semiconductor cathodes. 32,33 For many applications, uniform plasma distribution is required, so semiconductor cathodes are fabricated with a homogeneous spatial distribution of resistance corresponding to the onset of space charge. In fact, filament propagation is stopped by such a semiconductor cathode with high resistivity.…”

Experimental analysis on the nonlinear behavior of DC barrier discharge plasmas

“…The other electrode is a glass plate coated by conductive Indium-Tin Oxide (ITO). The GaAs is a promising material with the properties of high carrier mobility, wide band sensitivity and large absorption coefficient [16]. The features of the discharge are explored using plasma current (I)-voltage (V ) characteristics by acquiring long time series data using a fast oscilloscope.…”

Surface behavior based on ion-induced secondary electron emission from semi-insulating materials in breakdown evolution

“…On the other hand, recent developments associated with the semiconductor materials including InP, GaAs, and Si cathodes or photocathodes have found numerous applications including optoelectronic devices and the plasma‐assisted semiconductor MEMS devices in the past decade. However, this new interest indicates that the effects of γ i are not adequately known in the semiconductor cathodes during to breakdown evolution, and especially in a semiconductor gas discharge electronic device (SGDED) . SGDED has widely applied the extensive applications in the various operation regimes and pressures, including mainly IR image converter , UV light source , and various types of lasers .…”

“…However, this new interest indicates that the effects of γ i are not adequately known in the semiconductor cathodes during to breakdown evolution, and especially in a semiconductor gas discharge electronic device (SGDED) . SGDED has widely applied the extensive applications in the various operation regimes and pressures, including mainly IR image converter , UV light source , and various types of lasers . SGDED that creates a microplasma distribution operates with various semiconductor cathodes or photocathodes as a nonequlibrium plasma source.…”