A Hybrid Planar-Doped Potential-Well Barrier Diode for Detector Applications

This paper presents the principle of design and experimental demonstration of a prototype novel planar-doped potential-well barrier (PWB) diode concept that exploits the characteristics of both the PWB and planar-doped barrier (PDB) diodes. The highly doped (Be) sheet charge and potential well are inserted asymmetrically at nearly the same position within an intrinsic region to form a barrier. The hybrid device is designed so that the δ-doping is used to achieve a desirable minimum barrier height, while the active nature of charge in the potential well is used to enhance the device reverse bias performance. The diode achieved an ideality factor of 1.36 and corresponding voltage responsivity of 10900 V/W at 10 GHz. Diodes of this kind demonstrates promising RF signal detection and can be used in heterodyne applications. An estimated curvature coefficient of 21.2 V⁻¹ at a bias of 0.72 V and cut-off frequency of 47.4 GHz were realized. Results of simulation and experiment have shown excellent agreement and an improved asymmetric behavior in the I−V characteristics in comparison to an equivalent PDB diode.