Blocked impurity band detectors—an analytical model: Figures of merit

We are presenting an analytic model for the figures of merit of a novel extrinsic infrared quantum detector—the blocked impurity band (BIB) detector. The detector consists of top and bottom contacts, a heavily doped active layer, and a nearly intrinsic layer, called the blocking layer, to stop the motion of hopping carriers in the impurity band. The responsivity, gain, excess noise factor, and detectivity of the BIB detector are calculated as functions of the device dimensions, doping concentrations, and the applied reverse bias, which controls the electric field in the depletion region, devoid of hopping carriers, of the device underneath the blocking layer. Central to our model is the inclusion of impact ionization of carriers in the calculation of the detector response and of the associated noise. For practical detector dimensions and doping concentrations, and at 2-V reverse bias, we calculate the responsivity to be on the order of 2 A/W, and detectivities, with 1012 photons/cm2 s background photon flux, on the order of 1013 cm Hz1/2/W. We provide analytic expressions for the figures of merit which should prove useful to other researchers in the field who want to optimize the detector design.