Almost ready for prime time: Deep UV photodetectors head to real-world
testing
Renewed interest emerges to connect deep UV detector researchers with
industry for future space-borne solar-blind imaging platforms
Date:
April 19, 2022
Source:
American Institute of Physics
Summary:
Researchers are asking why, after decades of development and
promising results, ultrawide bandgap photodetectors with deep UV
capabilities haven't enjoyed widespread adoption, and are taking
stock of advancements and challenges in the field. Unlike their
silicon-based counterparts, UWBG photodetectors made from aluminum
gallium nitride and gallium (III) oxide are more efficient, can
tailor cutoff wavelengths, and do not need optical filters to
reject visible or infrared wavelengths for solar-blind applications.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Numerous devices and detectors sense and catalog deep ultraviolet
frequencies that the Earth's ozone layer otherwise absorbs. Most
solar-blind space-borne imaging platforms still rely on photomultiplier
tubes and/or microchannel plates working with silicon photodiodes that
increase the systems' complexity and weight.
==========================================================================
In Journal of Applied Physics, by AIP Publishing, researchers in India are asking why, after decades of development and promising results, ultrawide bandgap (UWBG) photodetectors with deep UV capabilities haven't enjoyed widespread adoption, and are taking stock of advancements and challenges
in the field.
"From the device and materials point of view, enough advances have
been made," said author Digbijoy Nath, from the Indian Institute of
Science. "Now, it's time to bring systems and imaging experts and device
and materials engineers together to study and qualify UWBG detectors
under actual conditions for real- world applications." Unlike their silicon-based counterparts, UWBG photodetectors made from aluminum
gallium nitride and gallium (III) oxide are more efficient, can tailor
cutoff wavelengths, and do not need optical filters to reject visible
or infrared wavelengths for solar-blind applications.
The ability to image with UV is of strategic and astrophysical interest
as well as important for industrial and biomedical applications.
In addition to determining how rugged and reliable devices are in
real-world applications, the scientists said further work is needed to
optimize how the materials are assembled over large area substrates,
in a process of depositing crystalline materials into a thin film
called epitaxy.
On the nanoscale, Nath said a better understanding can show how these
devices can achieve superior performance by optimizing the arrangement
of the atoms in the lattice of the semiconductors.
The researchers introduce a new benchmark for comparing photodetectors
by accounting for gain, noise, and bandwidth, rather than the oft-cited parameters of photo-to-dark current ratio, responsivity, transient
responses, and others.
"Further improvement in these device performance parameters isn't going
to help mature this technology for real-world applications," Nath said.
"It's high time now for the community to have a pull from the industry
and strategic sector so that device and material engineers can start
working with imaging and systems groups to actually develop focal plane
arrays and to integrate these with front-end electronics for real-life
testing and applications."
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by American_Institute_of_Physics. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Anisha Kalra, Usman Ul Muazzam, R. Muralidharan, Srinivasan
Raghavan,
Digbijoy N. Nath. The road ahead for ultrawide bandgap solar-blind
UV photodetectors. Journal of Applied Physics, 2022; 131 (15):
150901 DOI: 10.1063/5.0082348 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220419112410.htm
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