• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.141-146
• /
• 2002

The effect of the wide-bandgap Schottky barrier enhancement cap layer on the performance of metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors (MSMPD's) is presented. Judged by the dc characteristics, no considerable increase in recombination loss of carriers is resulted by the incorporation of the cap layer. However, about 45% of the detection efficiency is lost for the cap-layered MSMPD's even with a graded layer incorporated under pulse operation, and it was found to be due mainly to the capturing and slow release of the photocarriers at the heterointerface. The loss mechanism of the pulse detection efficiency is believed to be responsible for the intersymbol interference and the increased bit-error-rate (BER) observed in MSMPD's when used with a high bit rate pseudo-random-bit-stream (PRBS) data pattern.