Equivalent Circuit Model of InAlAs/InGaAs/InP Heterostructure Metal-Semiconductor-Metal Photodetectors

Koichi IIYAMA  Junya ASHIDA  Akira TAKEMOTO  Saburo TAKAMIYA  

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E86-C    No.11    pp.2278-2282
Publication Date: 2003/11/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: PAPER
Category: Lasers, Quantum Electronics
Keyword: 
metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector,  heterostructure,  S parameter,  equivalent circuit,  

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Summary: 
One-dimentional equivalent circuit model of a heterostructure InAlAs/InGaAs/InP metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector is discussed. In this photodetector, InGaAs is used as an optical absorption layer and the InAlAs is used for Schottky barrier enhanement. The measured S11 parameter deviates from equi-resistance lines on the Smith chart, indicating the equivalent circuit is different from the conventional equivalent circuit using a series resistance, a depletion region capacitance and a depletion region resistance. The difference is due to band discontinuity at the heterojunctions, and we propose a equivalent circuit taking account of the band discontinuity. The band discontinuity is expressed by parallel combination of a resistance and a capacitance. The measured S11 parameter can be fitted well with the calculated S11 parameter from the proposed equivalent circuit, and we can successfully extract the device parameters from the fitted curve.