The effect of a valence-band offset on potential and current distributions in HgCdTe heterostructures

E. A. Kraut

doi:10.1116/1.576195

journal article Mar 01, 1989

The effect of a valence-band offset on potential and current distributions in HgCdTe heterostructures

Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films Vol. 7 No. 2 pp. 420-423 · American Vacuum Society

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Abstract

A simplified model of current transport in diffusion limited abrupt mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) pn heterojunctions is used to show that n-type doping should be preferred for the narrow-band-gap detector layer in a pn-heterojunction photodiode because most of the difference in the energy band gaps between narrow- and wide-band-gap MCT alloys occurs as a discontinuity at the conduction-band edges. Although p-type doping for the narrow-band-gap layer would result in a smaller dark current, the large conduction-band barrier that reduces the dark current also impedes the collection of light generated minority-carrier photoelectrons. For diodes operating in the drift-diffusion regime, an examination of D* shows that the reduction in minority-carrier photocurrent due to the large conduction-band barrier more than offsets the gain in R0A due to the reduced dark current. This indicates that holes should be used as the minority photocarriers because of the small valence-band offset. The resulting current transport will be essentially like that for a homojunction.

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Published: Mar 01, 1989
Vol/Issue: 7(2)
Pages: 420-423

Authors

E

E. A. Kraut

Rockwell International Science Center, Thousand Oaks, California 91360

Cite This Article

E. A. Kraut (1989). The effect of a valence-band offset on potential and current distributions in HgCdTe heterostructures. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, 7(2), 420-423. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.576195

The effect of a valence-band offset on potential and current distributions in HgCdTe heterostructures

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