Semiconductor Photoconductive Detectors

1. Semiconductor Photoconductive Detectors S W McKnight and C A DiMarzio

2. Types of Photoconductivity • “Intrinsic photoconductors” • Absorption across primary band-gap, Eg, creates electron and hole photocarriers • “Extrinsic photoconductors” • Absorption from (or to) impurity site in gap creates photocarriers in conduction or valence band

3. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Photoconductors E Ef1 1 Eg 2 Ef2 Extrinsic Photoconductor Intrinsic Photoconductor 1. Donor level to conduction band 2. Valence band to acceptor level

4. Impurities Levels in Si

5. Photoconductors

6. Indirect Gap Semiconductors hνphonon Eg hνphoton

7. Direct Gap Semiconductors E Eg k hνphoton

10. Optical Electric Field and Power q=ω (ε)1/2 = (ω/c) (n+ik)

11. Optical Electric Field and Power A x (B x C) = B(A·C) – C(A·B) α = absorption coefficient = 2 ω k/c

12. Absorption Coefficient for Si and GaAs

13. Reflection at Front Surface For Silicon, near 600 nm: n=3.95 k=0.026 → R = 0.35 (Can be reduced by anti-reflection coating)

14. Absorption in Semiconductor α = 2 ω k / c For Silicon near 600 nm: α = 4 π 0.026 / 600 x 10-9 = 5.44 x 105 m-1 For GaAs near 600 nm: α = 4.76 x 106 m-1

15. Carrier Generation/Recombination Units: g = e-h excitations/sec/m3 r = m3/sec 1. Thermal Equilibrium: 2. Direct recombination of excess carriers:

16. Direct Recombination of Excess Carriers Direct recombination (low level)→ δn = δp << no

17. Photogenerated Carriers 3. Steady-state optical excitation: Neglect for δn<<no

18. Differential Optical Excitation Rate

19. length=l Area=A Photoconductivity Φp = photon flux (photon/sec) η = quantum efficiency

20. Hole Trapping • Hole trapping at recombination centers: • hole is trapped • electron trapped, completing recombination • hole detraps to valence band (c)

21. Photoconductivity with Hole Trapping (Steady-state) # of current-carrying photoelectrons = # of trapped holes

22. Photoconductive Gain G = photocurrent (electron/sec) / rate of e-h generation length=l Area=A

23. Photoconductive Gain →

24. Effect of Carrier Lifetime on Detector Frequency Response

25. Photoconductor Bias Circuit

26. Photoconductive Voltage

27. Photoconductor Responsivity

28. Responsivity Factors • Photocarrier lifetime • Tradeoff with response frequency • Quantum efficiency (anti-reflection coating) • Carrier mobility • Detector current • Dark resistance • R= ℓ / σ A • Detector area: Ad = ℓ w • Sample thickness Detector area=Ad w t Detector current, i length=ℓ Cross-section area=A

29. Photoconductive Noise Factors • 1/f Noise • Contact related • Thermal noise (Johnson noise) • Statistical effect of thermal fluctuations • <In2> ~ kT/R • Generation-Recombination noise • Statistical fluctuations in detector current • Dark current (thermal electron-hole pairs) • Background photogenerated carriers • <In2> ~ Id / e

30. Noise Sources Johnson noise: G-R noise: Ep = photon irradiance=Φp / Ad G = photoconductive gain

31. Background-Limited Photoconductive Detection

32. Johnson-Noise-Limited Photoconductive Detection

33. Noise Sources for IR Detectors