Article:Etteh, N.E.I. and Harrison, P. (2001) Carrier scattering approach to the origins of dark current in mid-and far-infrared (terahertz) quantum-well intersubband photodetectors (QWIPs). IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 37 (5 Abstract-A carrier scattering approach is taken in an analysis of the affect on the dark current of extending the operating wavelength of conventional bound to continuum quantum-well intersubband photodetectors. It is found that both the sequential tunneling and the thermionic emission contributions to the dark current increase as the wavelength of the detector is extended from the mid-to far-infrared. Dark current designs rules are derived.Index Terms-Far-infrared, infrared, intersubband, quantum wells, QWIP, terahertz (THz).

The thermionic emission and field induced emission components of the dark current in quantum well infrared photodetectors are investigated using a quantum mechanical scattering theory approach. Calculations are performed for an experimentally reported device. Using this as a standard, the device dimensions were altered in order to increase its detection wavelength to cover the mid-͑MIR͒ and far-infrared ͑FIR͒ regions of the spectrum. The behavior of the scattering mechanisms that contribute to the thermionic emission and field induced emission components were studied. The results highlight the change in the dominating scattering mediator across the MIR and FIR bands.

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