The operational principle of a new amorphous silicon based p-i-i-n color detector

Abstract

The operational principle of a new type p-i-i-n color sensor is described with the aid of numerical modeling. The modeling results account for the color detection mechanism recently presented that this kind of structure exhibits [T. Neidlinger, M. B. Schubert, G. Schmid, and H. Brummack, in Amorphous Silicon Technology—1996, edited by E. A. Schiff et al. (Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, 1996), p. 147]. By band gap engineering the experimental red response is maximized at larger reverse bias voltage whereas the green response has its maximum at low reverse bias voltage. The numerical modeling qualitatively reproduces the characteristic shape of the steady-state current-voltage curves at different illumination wavelengths. At low and at high reverse bias voltages the influence of the internal variables and parameters is identified and leads to the experimentally observed response. The potential profile of the p-i-i-n structure is of crucial importance to the color detection mechanism. At larger wavelengths the large potential drop across the two highly defective front layers assists recombination in the back part of the device, which thus leads to the drop in the red response at low reverse voltage. For the voltage-dependent shift in spectral sensitivity it is important that photogenerated carriers under green bias illumination are lost by recombination in the front part of the device.