Electrical and Optical Characteristics of InP Nanowires based p-i-n Photodetectors

Abstract: Photodetectors are a kind of semiconductor devices that convert incoming light to an electrical signal. Photodetectors are classified based on their different structure, fabrication technology, applications and different sensitivity. Infrared photodetectors are widely used in many applications such as night vision, thermal cameras, remote temperature sensing, and medical diagnosis etc.   All detectors have material inside that is sensitive to incoming light. It will absorb the photons and, if the incoming photons have enough energy, electrons will be excited to higher energy levels and if these electrons are free to move, under the effect of an external electric field, a photocurrent is generated.   In this project Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy is used to investigate a new kind of photodiodes that are based on self-assembled semiconductor nanowires (NWs) which are grown directly on the substrate without any epi-layer. The spectrally resolved photocurrent (at different applied biases) and IV curves (in darkness and illumination) for different temperatures have been studied respectively. Polarization effects (at low and high Temperatures) have been investigated.  The experiments are conducted for different samples with high concentration of NWs as well as with lower concentration of NWs in the temperature range from 78 K (-195ºC) to 300 (27ºC). These photodiodes are designed to work in near infrared (NIR) spectral range.   The results show that the NW photodetectors indeed are promising devices with fairly high break down voltage, change of photocurrent spectra with polarized light, low and constant reverse saturation current (Is). The impact of different polarized light on photocurrent spectra has been investigated and an attempt has been made to clarify the observed double peak of InP photocurrent spectrum. Our investigations also include a comparison to a conventional planar InP p-i-n photodetector.