International Journal of Semiconductor Science

& Technology (IJSST)

ISSN(P): 2250-1576; ISSN(E): 2278-9405
Vol. 4, Issue 2, Dec 2014, 1-12
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

NOISE MODELING CIRCUIT OF QUANTUM STRUCTURE

TYPE OF INFRARED PHOTODETECTORS
MOHAMED B. EL_MASHADE & M. EL_HANASH
Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Al Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

ABSTRACT
Noise is a general property of electrical conductors where it introduces random fluctuations in their currents.
Studies of these fluctuations are of great interest because they give information about the charge carriers in the system and
their mutual interactions.
Quantum well infrared photodetectors QWIPs are very successful devices. They have been developed very
quickly and demonstrated large format focal plane arrays with low noise equivalent irradiance, high uniformity, and high
operability. Therefore, it is of interest to model its noise behavior under different operating conditions to show to what
extent the noise can affect the operation of that attractive device. Our scope in this paper is to derive the noise modeling
circuit of QWIP. As a tool for this achievement, it is intuitive to calculate all different current's components, which include
dark current, photocurrent, thermal noise current and shot noise currents (generation-recombination noise). Finally,
we represent all these noise currents in a simplified electrical circuit to become a one of its basic characteristics.

KEYWORDS: QWIP Detectors, Dark Current, Photocurrent, Thermal Noise Current, Photo Shot Noise Current and
Dark Shot Noise Current

INTRODUCTION
The technology of band gap engineering has led to significant advances in the development of new infrared
photodetectors. In a bulk type of semiconductor materials, electrons are free to move in any of the three spatial directions.
A confining structure may be made by embedding a limited region of one material within another. The difference between
allowed electronic states for the two materials forms a barrier to free electron movement. If any dimension of the structure
approaches the wavelength of an electron, quantum effects will arise. Quantum structures of semiconductor materials have
the property of confining the mobility of electrons. Each one of the three dimensions of the bulk material may be thinned
conceptually to yield the three classes of quantum structures. Making the structure thin along only one axis results in a two
dimensions layer called a quantum well. If thinned along any two of three axes, a one dimension quantum wire is
produced. Thinning along the final axis leads to a zero dimension structure known as quantum dot.
The design of quantum well devices was originated from the suggestion that a hetero structure consisting of
alternating ultrathin layers of two semiconductors with different band gaps should exhibit some novel useful properties
[1, 2]. The band-edge potential varies from layer to layer as a result of the difference in the band gaps and a periodically
varying potential is produced in the structure with a period equal to the sum of the widths of two consecutive layers [3].
This is because of the importance of the developed device in achieving novel characteristics in the fields of optical
communications, thermal imaging and sensor networking, etc. Recently infrared photo detectors have been the focus of

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Mohamed B. El_Mashade & M. El_Hanash

much attention due to their potential use in far-infrared imaging as well as room temperature operation, which is of interest
from users point of view.
Quantum Well Infrared (IR) Photo detectors (QWIP) have been developed very quickly and demonstrated large
format focal plane arrays with low noise equivalent irradiance, high uniformity, and high operability. Through the using of
high quality GaAs material systems, QWIPs have the potential for high production with low cost and low power
consumption. On the other hand, Infrared focal plane array (IRFPA) technology is very important to ballistic missile
defense (BMD) and space-based applications, as well as other military and commercial applications. These arrays are
widely used in tactical applications for surveillance, target detection, target tracking, and discrimination. On the other
hand, important FPA characteristics for future BMD FPAs will include large format, high sensitivity, low l/f noise, good
uniformity, and high operability [4]. Such applications require accurate measurement and subtraction of background
irradiance to detect the targets signal. Although QWIPs have lower sensitivity than mercury cadmium telluride FPAs at
MWIR and LWIR wavelengths, its performance at low temperature and VLWIR makes it especially attractive for IR space
systems. In addition, multicolor capabilities are highly desirable for advance IR sensor systems. FPA stability,
reproducibility, cost, maintenance, and manufacturability are also very important issues. From this point of view, superior
multicolor capability has been demonstrated in QWIP manufacture.
With the increasing demand for new optical application of QWIPs at a wide variety of wavelength from mid to far
infrared, the need for low noise structure becomes an urgent necessity. The absorption of long wavelength light in QW is
due to transition from a quasi bound state to the continuum in a narrow well or intersubband transition in a wide well [5].
QWIPs exhibit very fast operation. Their intrinsic high speed is considered as one of the advantages of the QWIPs over
standard detectors made of narrow-gap semiconductors. Because of the performance of QWIP is enhanced when number
of the wells is increased, so a multiple QWIP structure is preferred. A multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structure with only
one bound state in each well is found to be optimum in detecting infrared radiation [6, 7].
The figure of merit used to evaluate the performance of most QWIPs is the specific detectivity which is a measure
of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In calculating such important characteristic at a certain electrical frequency, the output
noise current at that frequency must be known. Additionally, noise information is required to optimize the operating bias
voltage. From the operation point of view, QWIP is a photoconductive device which means that its conductivity increases
with incident infrared power. Under normal conditions of operation, QWIP photoconductivity increases linearly with
power and this in turn leads to making the responsivity constant. However, the high infrared power, nonlinear
photoconductivity effects can take place giving rise to a decrease of responsivity. This effect is very important in some
practical applications, for example, in heterodyne detection where a weak infrared signal is mixed with a strong infrared
radiation from a laser system.
Here, we present a theoretical calculation of all possible currents that are generated inside QWIP and are induced
by noise. For the dark current case, our calculation can be carried out not only by using the flow of electrons above the
barriers but also by employing the emission and capture of electrons in the wells. Due to the physical structure of the last
method, we will use it in calculating the noise component introduced by the dark current. Photoconductivity phenomena in
solids are well known. From this point of view, the device operation of the photoconductive QWIPs is similar to that of
extrinsic semiconductor detectors [8].The distinct feature of QWIPs in contrast with the conventional intrinsic and extrinsic
photoconductors is the discreteness. This means that incident photons are only absorbed in discrete quantum wells which
Impact Factor (JCC): 3.8869

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

Noise Modeling Circuit of Quantum Structure

Type of Infrared Photodetectors

are normally much narrower than the inactive barrier regions. We will analyze the photocurrent caused by intersubband
excitations in a QWIP and consider only the case of positive photoconductivity; the effect of which is to have smaller
resistance against the incident of IR light. Negative photoconductivity is possible, if one has a device with a negative
differential resistance region [6].

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
QWIPs belong to the category of the so-called photon detectors; the absorption of an infrared photon results
directly in some specific quantum event, such as the photoelectric emission of electrons from a surface, or electronic inter
band transitions in semiconductor materials. Therefore, the output of photon detectors is governed by the rate of absorption
of photons and not directly by the photon energy. Photon detectors typically require cooling down to cryogenic
temperatures in order to get rid of excessive dark current, but in return their general performance is high. QWIPs are most
often used as photo-conductive detectors. In this type of detectors photo-generated charge carriers increase the conductivity
of the device material.
The physical structure of QWIPs is the main key of changing or modulating its characteristics such as dark
current, photocurrent, noise currents, responsivity, and detectivity. Our scope in the following sections is to show to what
extent the physical structure can affect the characteristics of dark, photo and noise currents. The theoretical procedure of
calculations of these currents is based on capture and escape probabilities for the electrons. These probabilities are
dependent on capture, transit, escape, and intersubband relaxation time. However, all these parameters vary from one of
QWIP structures to another. In the condition of designing of an optimum QWIP, we must be careful when we choose
QWIP parameters such as doping density in the well, the mole fraction and the barrier width. This is due to the role that
these parameters can play on determination of the capture and escape probabilities. For these reasons, we are going to
evaluate the basic formulas which are very useful in comparing the different structures of QWIP devices.
It is generally assumed that each well in a QWIP can be regarded as a discrete generation-recombination (GR)
noise source. Within this approach, a good agreement between theoretical models and experimental QWIP noise results has
been achieved.
Dark and Photo Currents
A QWIP is a photoconductor. Unlike a photodiode, it does not contain an internal electric field. Thus an external
electric field must be applied across the detector to induce current flow. With the incident optical flux, photoelectrons are
generated in the conduction band. Thus, the conductance of the detector changes with incident flux. Since the detector has
a finite conductance, there will always be a dark current associate with the photocurrent. For effective imaging, the dark
current must be significantly less than the photocurrent.
The dark current in a typical photoconductive QWIP is controlled by the flow of electrons above the barriers, and
by the emission and capture of electrons in the wells [6]. It is the current that flows even without the presence of incident
light. This current is the source of noise that represents the main factor limiting the performance of QWIPs. Figure 1 shows
the dark current paths. In the barrier regions, the current flows in a three-dimensional (3D) fashion, and the current density
is labeled as
the well

which equals the dark current density

. In the vicinity of each well, the emission of electrons from

contributes to the dark current. This current, which tends to lower the electron density in the well, must be

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Mohamed B. El_Mashade & M. El_Hanash

balanced by the trapping or capture of electrons

into the well, so under steady state

is the same throughout the structure. If we define a trapping or capture probability

[5] since the dark current

for an electron traversing a well with

energy larger than the barrier height, we must have

(1)
And the sum of the captured and uncaptured fractions must equal the current in the barrier region, so the escape
current density can be written as

(2)
Where

is a 2D electron density which only includes electrons on the upper part (with energy greater than the

barrier height) of the ground state suband and

is the scattering time to transfer these electrons from the 2D sub and

to the non confined continuum on top of the barrier. The capture probability is related to the relevant time constants by [6]

(3)

is the capture time of an excited electron back into the well and
one quantum well region including the surrounding barriers. Practically,

is the transit time for an electron across

, as is true for

actual devices at operating electric fields, the dark current density will be

(4)

" " denotes the drift velocity and

of the well and the barrier width

is the period length of the multiple quantum well structure, which is the sum

" . Thus,

(5)
"A" represents the device area.
Because

is a function of temperature and

is a function of electric field or applied biasing voltage, so the

dark current is a function of both the bias and the temperature [9]. Figure 2 illustrates the theoretical calculations of three
samples. The main difference between these samples is the doping density in the well
of 100 periods of

#$% &

'(% #)/&

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#) quantum wells with well width

. The sample structure consists

= 6.6 -, barrier thickness

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

Noise Modeling Circuit of Quantum Structure

Type of Infrared Photodetectors

"

= 25 - and 0 = 20%. The variation of the dark current, generated by this sample, as a function of the electric

field for different values of operating temperatures is plotted in Figure 3 when the well's doping density is

= 1.5

10' 4-( . On the other hand, when IR light is incident on the detector, all the dark current paths remain unchanged [6]
as Figure 4 demonstrates.
Let us now turn our attention to the photocurrent to show to what extent its presence can affect the behavior of the
QWIP detector. There is a direct photoemission of electrons from the well, and this, of course, contributes to the observed
photocurrent in the collector. The photoconductive gain is a result of the extra current injection from the contact necessary
to balance the loss of electrons from the well due to photoemission. The amount of the extra injection must be sufficiently
large in such a way that its fraction trapped in the well equals the direct photoemission current. The total photocurrent
consists of contributions from the direct photoemission and the extra current injection [10]. The photoemission current
directly ejected from one well is

(6)
where is the rate of incident photons, the superscript (1) indicates quantities for one well,
time,

5 % is the intersubband relaxation time,

6 6

'

is the escape

is the total absorption quantum efficiency,

is the

number of wells, and 89 is the escape probability for an excited electron from the well is.
The derivation of Eq. (6) is straight-forward from a rate equation consideration which relates the rate of change of
the number of excited electrons

% to the other system parameters as:

(7)
'

As shown in Figure 3, for each well, the injection current : ;< < /

which refills the well to balance the loss due

'

to emission : ;< < equals the observed photocurrent. The photocurrent is then given by

(8)
Using Eq. (6), we immediately get

(9)
and the photoconductive gain will be:

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Mohamed B. El_Mashade & M. El_Hanash

(10)
Shot (Generation-Recombination) Noise Current
The basic principle of photodiode operation is when photons strike photodiode surface, they generate free
electrons and the movement of free electrons results in a measurable current. Shot noise in the current is due to the
statistical nature of the generation of the free electrons. In given time interval, there will be random fluctuations in the
number of free electrons generated as the photons strike that surface. These fluctuations will follow Poisson statistics,
which tells us the uncertainty in the number of events "
root of , or =

", that occur in a given time interval is given simply by the square

= . During a measuring time interval of @, the number of events (creation of free electrons), is given

by:

(11)

A represents the external circuit current. Shot noise current is based on Poisson statistics, so the standard
deviation of the current is

(12)
where B

= 1/2@ denotes the measurement's bandwidth.

In the above formula, it is assumed that C ;< <

=C

<D

= 1, so shot noise current (square average) is given by:

(13)
Here

, ;<

consists of two contributions: fluctuations in :

: . The shot noise caused by the dark

current becomes:

(14)
Where :

'

. From Eq. (13), the shot noise current (square average) due to the fluctuation in the

emission dark current can be expressed as,

(15)
and the shot noise current (square average) due to the fluctuation in the capture dark current can be formulated as,

Impact Factor (JCC): 3.8869

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Noise Modeling Circuit of Quantum Structure

Type of Infrared Photodetectors

(16)
So the total fluctuations in the dark current can be calculated by adding Eqs. (15) and (16).

(17)
Because :

= :

;< <

= C

<D

'
G H

as a good approximation for

1,

(18)
An expression for the shot noise current caused by the photocurrent can be easily obtained by replacing A

in

Eq. (18) with photocurrent (A ;< < ).

(19)
Johnson noise
Johnson noise is inherent to all resistive devices and the noise mean square current is [11]

(20)
As previously stated, B is the bandwidth of the measuring channel and R refers to the device differential
resistance. Johnson noise is easily calculated once the device IV curve is known. A photoconductor has
for GaAs QWIPs, experiments show that

1 /B noise but

1/B noise seldom limits the detector performance. So, the contribution of 1/B

noise can be neglected [6].

Now, we can easily draw the equivalent circuit of photoconductive (QWIP) as shown in Figure 5, where I" is the
biasing voltage.
Comparison of Dark and Noise Currents
From the dark current point of view, the total mean square noise current is given by:

(21)
The normalization of the above formula to the standard noise current will give a ratio:

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Mohamed B. El_Mashade & M. El_Hanash

(22)
In the above formula,

J K

is the dark-to-noise current ratio. Substituting C <D

'
G H

into Eq.(22), we

get

(23)
Figure 6 illustrates the dependence of
current is independent on N. However,

J K

J K

on the number of quantum wells. It is well-known that the dark

is enhanced as N increases. This is due to the inverse proportionality of

the shot noise currents with N. It is of importance to note that the sample structure; for which the displayed results in
Figure 6 were obtained; consists of
thickness

"

#$% &

'(% #)/&

= 25 - and 0 = 0.2 ,

B = 1 RST,

= 7 ),

#) quantum wells with well width

= 1.5 10' 4-(

= 31.6 10(

= 6.6 - , barrier

L = 90 N O , # = 200 P- 200 P-,

), K = 20 under applied biasing voltage with electric field

of intensity 4000 I/4-.

Let us now turn our attention to the condition of photo operation; the total measured current is the contribution of
the dark current and photocurrent [12], so the total current is given by

(24)
The amount of noise in this current is given by

(25)
If we refer to "the dark and photo currents-to-noise current ratio" with DPNR, we have

(26)
Therefore,

Impact Factor (JCC): 3.8869

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

Noise Modeling Circuit of Quantum Structure

Type of Infrared Photodetectors

(27)
Substituting C <D

'
G H

into Eq.(27) yields:

(28)
Using the same previous parameter values and 6 '

= 0.5% , we evaluate the dependence of DPNR on the

number of quantum well and the results are depicted in Figure 7.

From the last two figures, Figures 6 & 7, we note that

]^_

] and `abc enhanced significantly with

increasing N in this range (1-200) and this significant enhancement decreases gradually as N is increased beyond that range
and tends to be constant for larger densities of wells. This is because of the dependence of
function of N which is practically predicted as

]^_

] and `abc on some

CONCLUSIONS
Thanks to their wavelength diversity and to their excellent uniformity, QWIP detectors emerge as potential
candidates for many practical applications; especially in the very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR) spectral domain.
This paper is concerned with calculating all different currents that are generated by several sources of noise. These currents
include dark, shot noise, thermal noise, and photocurrent component. From our calculations, it is noted that the absorption

6 is directly proportional to N while C

;< < is inversely proportional to it. So, the product of them, which gives the

photocurrent, is independent of N. However, the detector performance is dependent upon the number of quantum wells
owing to the inverse proportionality of the shot noise currents on N. As a final conclusion, there are several remarks that
may be taken into account in designing such types of optical devices. The more important one is that the photocurrent and
dark current are independent on the number of quantum wells, whilst the shot noise current is inversely proportional to it.
Thus, increasing the number of quantum wells results in decreasing the shot noise currents and this in turn leads to enhance
the performance of the quantum well infrared photodetector.

REFERENCES
1.

L. Esaki and R.Tsu, "Superlattice and negative conductivity in semiconductors, IBM Internal Res. Rep. RC
2418, Mar.26 (1969).

2.

L. Esaki and R.Tsu, "Superlattice and Negative Differential Conductivity in Semiconductors", IBMJ. Res. Dev.
14, 61 (1970).

3.

B.R. Nag, "Physics of Quantum Well Devices", Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000.

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editor@tjprc.org

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Mohamed B. El_Mashade & M. El_Hanash

4.

M. Z. Tidrow and W. R. Dyer, "Quantum We11 Infrared Focal Plane Arrays for Ballistic Missile Defense and
Space Applications", RTO SET Symposium on Space-Based Observation Technology, held on the Island of
Samos, Greece, 16-18 October 2000, pp.29-1_29-6.

5.

Levine, B.F, "Quantum-well infrared photodetector" J. Appl. Phys. 74, R1R81 (1993).

6.

Harald Schneider and Hui Chun Liu, "Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors Physics and Applications",
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.

7.

K. K. Cho, "Detection wavelength of quantum well infrared photodetectors", J. Appl. Phys. 73 (lo), May 1993.

8.

N. Sclar, "Properties of doped silicon and germanium infrared detectors", Prog. Quant. Electr. 9, 149-257
(1984).

9.

Thomas R. Hickey, "TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF DARK CURRENT IN QUANTUM WELL INFRARED

DETECTORS", NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL, Monterey, California, June 2002.

10. V. D. Shadrin, V. V. Mitin, and V. A. Kochelapb, "Photoconductive gain and generation-recombination noise in
quantum well infrared photodetectors", J. Appl. Phys. 77 (4), February 1995.
11. Robert H. Kingston, "Optical Sources, Detectors, and Systems Fundamentals And Applications", by ACADEMIC
PRESS, INC.1995.
12. L. Li D. Y. Xiong J. Wen Q. C. Weng, "An equivalent circuit model for the long-wavelength quantum well
infrared photo-detectors", Opt Quant Electron, (2013), Vol. 45, pp. 649656.

APPENDICES

Figure 1: The Dark Current Paths

Figure 2: Dark Current Density Plots with Applied Field for Different Doping Densities in the Wel
Impact Factor (JCC): 3.8869

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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Noise Modeling Circuit of Quantum Structure

Type of Infrared Photodetectors

Figure 3: Dark Current Density Plots with Applied Field for Different Temperatures

Figure 4: The Dark Current Paths and the Collected Total Photocurrent

Figure 5: The Equivalent Circuit of Photoconductive (QWIP)

Figure 6: Dependence of

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J K

on Number of Quantum Wells

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Mohamed B. El_Mashade & M. El_Hanash

Figure 7: Dependence of Jd

Impact Factor (JCC): 3.8869

K on Number of Quantum Wells

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0