Design consideration of GaAs-based blocked-impurity-band detector with the absorbing layer formed by ion implantation

Drawbacks and problems of the traditional liquid-phase-epitaxy grown mesa GaAs-based blocked-impurity-band (BIB) detector are discussed. In order to improve device performance, a novel planar GaAs-based BIB detector with the absorbing layer formed by ion implantation is proposed and modeled. Physical models and key parameters used for simulation are presented. Our results reveal that the transition region between the absorbing layer and the blocking layer can be as narrow as 3.125 \(\mu \hbox {m}\) by adopting the novel design. Bias-dependent electric field characteristics are then obtained by taking into account the immaturity of GaAs-based material. Temperature-dependent dark current characteristics are also simulated to investigate the impurity-band effect. Finally, the dependences of dark current and photoresponse on the thickness of the blocking layer are studied. It is demonstrated that the effective dark current suppression and sufficient photoresponse level can be realized by a proper control over the thickness of the blocking layer.