Quantum dot infrared photodetectors: Comparison of experiment and theory

H. Lim*, W. Zhang, S. Tsao, T. Sills, J. Szafraniec, K. Mi, B. Movaghar, M. Razeghi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

95 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present data and calculations and examine the factors that determine the detectivities in self-assembled InAs and InGaAs based quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs). We investigate a class of devices that combine good wavelength selectivity with "high detectivity." We study the factors that limit the temperature performance of quantum dot detectors. For this we develop a formalism to evaluate the optical absorption and the electron transport properties. We examine the performance limiting factors and compare theory with experimental data. We find that the notion of a phonon bottleneck does not apply to large-diameter lenslike quantum dots, which have many closely spaced energy levels. The observed strong decrease of responsivity with temperature is ultimately due to a rapid thermal cascade back into the ground states. High temperature performance is improved by engineering the excited state to be near the continuum. The good low temperature (77 K) performance in strongly bound QDIPs is shown to be due to the high gain and the low noise achievable in these micron size devices.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number085332
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Volume72
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 15 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Quantum dot infrared photodetectors: Comparison of experiment and theory'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this