Abstract
The major radiation of the Sun can be roughly divided into three regions: ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. Detection in these three regions is important to human beings. The metal-insulator-semiconductor photodetector, with a simpler process than the pn-junction photodetector and a lower dark current than the MSM photodetector, has been developed for light detection in these three regions. Ideal UV photodetectors with high UV-to-visible rejection ratio could be demonstrated with III–V metal-insulator-semiconductor UV photodetectors. The visible-light detection and near-infrared optical communications have been implemented with Si and Ge metal-insulator-semiconductor photodetectors. For mid- and long-wavelength infrared detection, metal-insulator-semiconductor SiGe/Si quantum dot infrared photodetectors have been developed, and the detection spectrum covers atmospheric transmission windows.
Highlights
This review focuses on MIS photodetectors working in the UV, visible or infrared regions
Two GaN MIS UV photodetectors based on different techniques of insulator formation by different groups will be introduced here, and the results show that similar performances could be achieved. (I) A GaN MIS UV photodetector with a photo chemical-vapor-deposition SiO2 layer was studied by Chiou et al [19]
The UV-to-visible rejection ratio of the metal-filter Si MIS photodetector was smaller than the AlGaN/GaN MIS photodetector mentioned in Subsection 3.1, a smaller full width at half magnitude (FWHM) could be achieved with such a photodetector
Summary
UV-C (10 nm–280 nm) light has the largest photon energy among the three UV regions, and it is the most harmful to human beings Most of it is absorbed by the atmospheric ozone layer. When a target light with a suitable wavelength irradiates this structure, electron-hole pairs could be generated and separated by the electric field. The MSM detector has a similar photo-detection principle, with the electric field distributed inside the semiconductor region. A deep-depletion region formed in the semiconductor of the MIS detector can provide the electric field for separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. Since a thin insulator layer is between the metal and semiconductor, the dark currents of MIS detectors can usually be lower than those of MSM detectors. The MIS structures for visible-to-near-IR detection employing the most broadly used semiconductor material, Si, will be discussed.
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