Patent ID: 8368051
Filing Date: 2013-02-05
Classification: B82Y,H01L

Abstract:
1. A detector comprising: a p-type absorber region to generate electrons and holes in response to electromagnetic radiation; a unipolar hole barrier region having inner and outer ends and disposed such that the inner end is positioned adjacent to the absorber region; a first n-type contact region disposed adjacent to the outer end of the hole barrier comprising a semiconductor material that allows the un-impeded flow of minority carriers from the absorber region; a unipolar electron barrier region having inner and outer ends and disposed such that the inner end is positioned adjacent to the absorber region; and a second contact region disposed adjacent to the outer end of the electron barrier, comprising a semiconductor material that allows the un-impeded flow of majority carriers from the absorber region wherein the absorber region, the unipolar hole barrier region and the unipolar electron barrier region are all substantially lattice-matched to a semiconductor substrate; and wherein the energy band gap of the barriers between the absorber and the contacts are selected such that the undesirable generation-recombination (G-R) dark current produced through the Shockley-Read-Hail (SRH) processes is reduced.