A novel photosensitive tunneling transistor for near-infrared sensing applications: Design, modeling, and simulation

Abstract

In this paper, a novel device structure, operating on the principle of band-to-band tunneling, has been designed for near-infrared (1-1.5 ?m) multispectral optical sensing applications. A drain current model based on line tunneling approach has been developed to illustrate the device operation. The results of the model are compared with the simulated data for devices with similar dimension and structure, indicating good accuracy of the developed model. Spectral response of the device is studied by estimating the relative values of its transfer-as well as output-characteristics, and also by measuring the variation of threshold voltage, VT and ON-state current, ION. VT and ION are found to be sensitive to wavelength variations at moderate gate doping levels. VT is found to increase by ?40 mV and ION decreases by 35% for a change of illumination wavelength from 1 to 1.5 ?m at a gate doping of 1 � 1018 cm-3. Peak spectral sensitivity at an illumination intensity of 0.75 W/cm2 is found to be 318.38, 2.02 � 103, and 672.2 corresponding to the change in wavelength from (1-1.2 ?m), (1.2-1.45 ?m), and (1.45-1.5 ?m), respectively. � 1963-2012 IEEE.