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Numerical Simulation and Analytical Modeling of InAs nBn Infrared Detectors with p-Type Barriers

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Abstract

This paper presents finite-element one-dimensional numerical simulations and analytical modeling for ideal (diffusion current only) nBn detectors with p-type barrier layers. The simulations show that the current–voltage J(V) and the dynamic resistance versus voltage R D(V) relations, both dark and illuminated, are in excellent agreement with the equations for ideal back-to-back photodiodes. We present a depletion approximation model for the nBn detector, analogous to that for the conventional p–n junction photodiode, based on new boundary conditions on the hole concentrations versus voltage at the edges of the nBn barrier layer. We show that these nBn boundary conditions are identical to those for ideal back-to-back photodiodes, justifying the applicability of back-to-back photodiode equations to describe the ideal nBn detector. The simulations for the space-charge regions show a low-bias-voltage regime and a high-bias-voltage regime. The integrated space-charge densities in the layers adjacent to the barrier layer vary linearly with bias voltage. Negative dynamic resistance occurs because the bias voltage changes the effective thickness of the thin-base layers that generate diffusion current. We present a new formulation of the model for ideal back-to-back photodiodes with a more elegant and transparent set of equations for J(V) and R D(V).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Marion Reine

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Jonathan Schuster, Benjamin Pinkie & Enrico Bellotti

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  1. Marion Reine
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Correspondence to Marion Reine.

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Reine, M., Schuster, J., Pinkie, B. et al. Numerical Simulation and Analytical Modeling of InAs nBn Infrared Detectors with p-Type Barriers. J. Electron. Mater. 42, 3015–3033 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-013-2685-x

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