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Title: Determination of charge-carrier diffusion length in the photosensing layer of HgCdTe n-on-p photovoltaic infrared focal plane array detectors

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4867349· OSTI ID:22283048
; ; ;  [1]
  1. Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Russian Academy of Science, Siberian Division, 13, Acad. Lavrent'ev Avenue, Novosibirsk 630090 (Russian Federation)

In the present paper, we propose a method for evaluating the bulk diffusion length of minority charge carriers in the photosensing layer of photovoltaic focal plane array (FPA) photodetectors. The method is based on scanning a strip-shaped illumination spot with one of the detector diodes at a low level of photocurrents j{sub ph} being registered; such scanning provides data for subsequent analysis of measured spot-scan profiles within a simple diffusion model. The asymptotic behavior of the effective (at j{sub ph} ≠ 0) charge-carrier diffusion length l{sub d} {sub eff} as a function of j{sub ph} for j{sub ph} → 0 inferred from our experimental data proved to be consistent with the behavior of l{sub d} {sub eff} vs j{sub ph} as predicted by the model, while the obtained values of the bulk diffusion length of minority carriers (electrons) in the p-HgCdTe film of investigated HgCdTe n-on-p FPA photodetectors were found to be in a good agreement with the previously reported carrier diffusion-length values for HgCdTe.

OSTI ID:
22283048
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 9; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English