III-Nitride Heterostructure Layered Tunnel Barriers For a Tunable Hyperspectral Detector

Author

Bell, L. Douglas ; Tripathi, Neeraj ; Grandusky, J.R. ; Jindal, Vibhu ; Shahedipour-Sandvik, F. Shadi

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA

Volume

8

Issue

6

fYear

2008

fDate

6/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

724

Lastpage

729

Abstract

We report on the fabrication and characterization of Ill-nitride layered tunnel barriers with applications for a new type of tunable hyperspectral imaging detector with intrinsically hyperspectral pixels. This would enable each pixel to be individually tunable in real-time through a range of wavelengths, with the number and width of spectral channels being dynamically adjustable. Shape-engineered electron barriers fabricated from III-nitride heterostructures allow barrier height to be varied by application of a voltage. A spectroscopy of photon wavelength is enabled via the collection of photoexcited electrons across this barrier. The device is envisioned for tunable detection of ultraviolet through infrared wavelengths.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; infrared detectors; semiconductor heterojunctions; ultraviolet detectors; III-nitride heterostructure layered tunnel barriers; infrared wavelengths; intrinsically hyperspectral pixels; photoexcited electrons; shape-engineered electron barriers; spectral channels; tunable hyperspectral imaging detector; ultraviolet wavelengths; Chemical analysis; Detectors; Dielectric materials; Electrons; Hyperspectral imaging; Pixel; Sensor arrays; Spectroscopy; Terrestrial atmosphere; Voltage; Dielectric films; transducers; tunneling; ultraviolet detectors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2008.923180

Filename

4529167