Noise characteristics investigation in quantum dot infrared photodetectors

The noise of quantum dot infrared photodetectors (QDIPs) can bring about the degradation on their performance, so keen interest has been paid to research on the noise in recent years. In this paper, a noise model of QDIP including the common influence of the microscale and the nanoscale electron transport to the activation energy is further verified at different temperatures, moreover, with the consideration of the dependence of the drift velocity on the electric field. The main concern is to investigate the influence of QDIPs parameters on the noise characteristics, such as the electric field, temperature, two electrons transport, detector material and structural performance parameters, respectively. The reasons for the influence of main performance parameters on the noise are analyzed and discussed in detail. The calculated and simulated results show that the noise model has a good agreement with the experimental data, and the research can provide the guidance in the optimization of the device design and the pursuit of the higher performance QDIP. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved,