On the Sensitivity of Electron-Injection Detectors at Low Light Level

Vala Fathipour; Iman Hassani Nia; Alireza Bonakdar; Hooman Mohseni

doi:10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2558508

On the Sensitivity of Electron-Injection Detectors at Low Light Level

Vala Fathipour^*, Iman Hassani Nia, Alireza Bonakdar, Hooman Mohseni

^*Corresponding author for this work

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the signal-to-noise performance of a short-wave infrared detector, which offers an internal avalanche-free gain. The detector is based on a similar mechanism as the heterojunction phototransistor and takes advantage of a type-II band alignment. Current devices demonstrate a noise-equivalent sensitivity of ∼670 photons at 260 K and over a linear dynamic range of 20 dB. While this level of sensitivity is about an order of magnitude better than an ideal p-i-n detector attached to the same low-noise amplifier, it was still limited by the amplifier noise (∼2600 electrons root mean square) due to the insufficient device gain. Performance comparison with other SWIR detector technologies demonstrates that the so-called 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.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	7460223
Journal	IEEE Photonics Journal
Volume	8
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2558508
State	Published - Jun 2016

Keywords

Optoelectronic materials
applications
electron-injection detector
imaging
imaging systems
infrared
photodetector
phototransistor

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Access to Document

10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2558508

Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'On the Sensitivity of Electron-Injection Detectors at Low Light Level'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this

@article{dce44801cb0b493898b53692201d795d,

title = "On the Sensitivity of Electron-Injection Detectors at Low Light Level",

abstract = "We present the signal-to-noise performance of a short-wave infrared detector, which offers an internal avalanche-free gain. The detector is based on a similar mechanism as the heterojunction phototransistor and takes advantage of a type-II band alignment. Current devices demonstrate a noise-equivalent sensitivity of ∼670 photons at 260 K and over a linear dynamic range of 20 dB. While this level of sensitivity is about an order of magnitude better than an ideal p-i-n detector attached to the same low-noise amplifier, it was still limited by the amplifier noise (∼2600 electrons root mean square) due to the insufficient device gain. Performance comparison with other SWIR detector technologies demonstrates that the so-called 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.",

keywords = "Optoelectronic materials, applications, electron-injection detector, imaging, imaging systems, infrared, photodetector, phototransistor",

author = "Vala Fathipour and Nia, {Iman Hassani} and Alireza Bonakdar and Hooman Mohseni",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Award ECCS-1310620 and the Army Research Office under Awards W911NF-13-1-0485, W911NF-11-1-0390, and W911NF-12-1-0324. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 IEEE. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2016",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2558508",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "8",

journal = "IEEE Photonics Journal",

issn = "1943-0655",

publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - On the Sensitivity of Electron-Injection Detectors at Low Light Level

AU - Fathipour, Vala

AU - Nia, Iman Hassani

AU - Bonakdar, Alireza

AU - Mohseni, Hooman

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Award ECCS-1310620 and the Army Research Office under Awards W911NF-13-1-0485, W911NF-11-1-0390, and W911NF-12-1-0324. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 IEEE. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2016/6

Y1 - 2016/6

N2 - We present the signal-to-noise performance of a short-wave infrared detector, which offers an internal avalanche-free gain. The detector is based on a similar mechanism as the heterojunction phototransistor and takes advantage of a type-II band alignment. Current devices demonstrate a noise-equivalent sensitivity of ∼670 photons at 260 K and over a linear dynamic range of 20 dB. While this level of sensitivity is about an order of magnitude better than an ideal p-i-n detector attached to the same low-noise amplifier, it was still limited by the amplifier noise (∼2600 electrons root mean square) due to the insufficient device gain. Performance comparison with other SWIR detector technologies demonstrates that the so-called 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.

AB - We present the signal-to-noise performance of a short-wave infrared detector, which offers an internal avalanche-free gain. The detector is based on a similar mechanism as the heterojunction phototransistor and takes advantage of a type-II band alignment. Current devices demonstrate a noise-equivalent sensitivity of ∼670 photons at 260 K and over a linear dynamic range of 20 dB. While this level of sensitivity is about an order of magnitude better than an ideal p-i-n detector attached to the same low-noise amplifier, it was still limited by the amplifier noise (∼2600 electrons root mean square) due to the insufficient device gain. Performance comparison with other SWIR detector technologies demonstrates that the so-called 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.

KW - Optoelectronic materials

KW - applications

KW - electron-injection detector

KW - imaging

KW - imaging systems

KW - infrared

KW - photodetector

KW - phototransistor

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976385708&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84976385708&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2558508

DO - 10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2558508

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84976385708

VL - 8

JO - IEEE Photonics Journal

JF - IEEE Photonics Journal

SN - 1943-0655

IS - 3

M1 - 7460223

ER -

On the Sensitivity of Electron-Injection Detectors at Low Light Level

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Cite this