a-Si:H/a-SiC:H Heterostructure for Bias-Controlled Photodetectors

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe present a novel family of photodetectors based on hydrogenated amorphous Si/SiC p-i-n-i-p heterostructures. Front p-i-n and rear n-i-p diodes work one as a detector and the other as a load impedance, depending on the polarity of the applied voltage. Due to different absorption at different wavelengths, the devices operate as bias-controlled light detectors in either the blue or the red regions. The energy gap and the thickness of the two intrinsic layers have been optimized to obtain a sharp wavelength selection (centered at 430 and 630 nm) with high rejection-ratios and good quantum efficiencies. The I-V characteristics and the device time response are investigated and simulated by SPICE.