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Modelling of Current Transport Mechanisms in GaSb-Rich Type-II Superlattice Infrared Photodiodes

In this paper we propose an alternative approach to model the performance limiting current leakage mechanism in GaSb-rich type II superlattice diodes than reported earlier. The reported conclusions are based on the analysis of the current – voltage (I – V) and dynamic resistance – voltage (Rd – V) characteristics of these diodes. None of the carrier transport parameters evaluated from independent measurements on similar samples are used in the present analysis as some of the material parameters like carrier concentrations and mobilities are evaluated by Hall measurements along the planes parallel to the deposited layers constituting the superlattice, whereas the transport of carriers in practical superlattice diodes takes place in the vertical direction. Instead, we have used a method which extracts the desired parameters from the measured I – V itself. Our analysis has shown that the GaSb-rich superlattice diode’s performance limiting leakage current mechanism is the contribution from surface leakage currents, which have been modelled as shunt current that is of ohmic nature in low reverse bias region near zero-bias. The same leakage current however grows in its own proportion leading to an exponential increase of the leakage current in the higher reverse bias region. The reverse bias region corresponding to the exponential increase of the leakage current exhibits consequent degradation in the dynamic resistance of the diode leaving behind a peak in the dynamic resistance characteristic. The reverse bias voltage corresponding to the peak dynamic resistance is the limiting bias voltage for the ohmic behaviour of the shunt current.

Superlattice Diode, GaSb-Rich, (I – V) Characteristics, Dynamic Resistance Characteristics

Vishnu Gopal, Raghvendra Sahai Saxena. (2023). Modelling of Current Transport Mechanisms in GaSb-Rich Type-II Superlattice Infrared Photodiodes. Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 11(4), 82-88. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jeee.20231104.11

Copyright © 2023 Authors retain the copyright of this article.
This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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