Under elevated defect concentrations, MWIR, III-V nBn detectors exhibit diffusion limited performance with elevated dark current densities. The resulting diffusion current is limited by the generation of carriers through defect states in the neutral n-type absorber and a dark current dependence on the defect density described by one of two limits, a short absorber or long absorber limit. This characteristic contrasts that exhibited by defect limited, conventional pn junction based photodiodes which exhibit performance limited by Shockley-Read-Hall generation in the depletion layer rather than diffusion based processes.

Date Published: 17 September 2014
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9226, Nanophotonics and Macrophotonics for Space Environments VIII, 92260R (17 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2064229

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9226:
Nanophotonics and Macrophotonics for Space Environments VIII
Edward W. Taylor; David A. Cardimona, Editor(s)