A behavioral model for high Ge content in Si/Si1-xGex multi-quantum well detector

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Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2018.2865033

This paper presents a behavioral model for aSi/Si1−xGexmulti-quantum well (MQW) detector that predictsdevice characteristics to investigate the effect of increasing Gecontent in Si/Si1−xGexMQW. The modeling approach in thispaper is based on a physical instead of empirical approach,which allows to obtain a predictive behavioral analysis of highGe content with only a few fitting parameters. The model is usedto simulate device transfer characteristics with respect to variousamounts of Ge content used for Si1−xGexlayer in MQW. Thesimulation results of the proposed model are validated with theexperimental data. The simulated and the experimental data areconsistent over a wide range of Ge content varied from 30%up to 50%. The primary objective of this paper is to optimizeGe content in the Si/Si1−xGex MQW detector to achieve desiredthermal sensitivity measured in terms of temperature coefficientof resistance for a potential microbolometer application. Thisis the first study in the literature to develop such a highlypredictive behavioral model of a Ge-enriched Si/Si1−xGex MQW.The study also presents the effect of including the carbon deltalayers at the Si/Si1−xGex heterointerface on the device transfercharacteristics. The effect of Ge content on the overall noise isalso investigated by the noise characterization of the test devices.