Patent ID: 7282777
Filing Date: 2007-10-16
Classification: B82Y,H01L,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method for detecting electromagnetic radiation, the method comprising: a. absorbing photons in an active region of a semiconductor device, the active region having a plurality of photo-absorptive type-II quantum well layers and thereby inducing an interband electronic transition and generating photo-excited charge carriers or electron-hole pairs; b. coupling the photo-excited charge carriers into at least one carrier transport region-characterized by carrier relaxation, transport, and tunneling processes significantly faster than recombination processes in the active region; c. collecting photo-excited carriers from the carrier transport region at a conducting contact region; and d. generating a photocurrent between the conducting contact regions through the active region of the device, the photocurrent characterizing the number of photons absorbed in the interband electronic transition.