Photoelectric Characteristics and Applications of Quantum Effect Photodetector

Abstract

This paper introduces the photon storage and current oscillation characteristics of a quantum effect photodetector and studies the high-sensitivity characteristics of the detector based on device model. The photodetector adopts AlAs/GaAs/AlAs double-barrier structure, and there is an InAs quantum dots and In_0.15Ga_0.85As quantum well in the GaAs wide well. In the bias voltage range of −1.5 ∼ 1 V, the dark current is about 0.1 pA, when the device is biased at −1.15 V, and the dark current of the device is 4.86 × 10⁻¹⁵ A. Under 632.8 nm laser irradiation, when the optical power is 0.01 pW, the current responsivity is 5.69 × 10⁷ A/W, which has a large photoconductive gain. After the readout circuit and the photodetector are docked and packaged, it is found that the response voltage has a linear relationship with the integration time and the irradiation power. Based on the 1 × 64 quantum dots photodetector array and readout circuit, a miniature quantum dots spectrometer was developed and the high-sensitivity characteristics of the photodetector were verified.

Keywords:

• Quantum dots
• Readout circuit
• Current oscillation
• Quantum dots spectrometer

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61971253); Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. ZR2014FL026).