Characteristics analysis of quantum wire infrared photodetectors under both dark and illumination conditions

This paper presents a theoretical analysis for the characteristics of quantum wire infrared photodetectors (QRIPs). Mathematical model describing this device is introduced. Maple 4 software is used to device this model. The developed model is used to investigate the behavior of the device with different values of performance parameters such as number of quantum wire layers, lateral characteristic size, and temperature. The modeling results are validated against experimental published work and full agreements are obtained. Several performance parameters are tuned to enhance the performance of these quantum photodetectors through the presented modeling. The resultant performance characteristics and comparison among both quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) and QRIPs are presented in this work. From the obtained results we notice that the total dark current in the QRIPs can be significantly lower than that in the QWIPs. Moreover, main features of the QRIPs such as the large gap between the induced photocurrent and dark current open the way for overcoming the problems of quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs).