Investigation of Richardson Effect Contribution in the Dark Current of Quantum Dot Infrared Photodetector

Quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) have been studied widely. They have many advantages over other types of semiconductor-based photodetectors. However some of its characteristics have been investigated theoretically, there are many unstudied parameters. In this paper a theoretical evaluation of quantum dot infrared photodetectors dark current is presented. The presented work is based on a model previously published by Ryzhii and co-workers. Several works have been done on the QDIPs but in all of them Richardson effect contribution in the dark current has not been considered. In this study, Richardson effect in the QDIP dark current is considered. Considering Richardson effect in the dark current mechanism improves the accuracy of algorithm and decreases error between experimental and theoretical data. The others parameters -like quantum dot (QD) density and QD size- effect on the QDIPs dark current are investigated.

Keywords:

Dark Current , photodetector , Richardson effect