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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Optical charge injection into a gallium arsenide acoustic charge transport device Beggs, Bruce Cameron

Abstract

There is a need for monolithic devices capable of spatial resolution in imaging and ionizing radiation detection. In this thesis, a GaAs acoustic charge transport device (ACT) was studied for this purpose. A new method of charge injection has been demonstrated for the ACT. Using near-infrared optical pulses incident through thin semi-transparent chromium windows, electron-hole-pairs were separated by the electric field in a depleted n-type channel region of the device. For light penetration less than the depth of the electron potential minimum, and for small injection levels, calculations indicated that electrons and holes were separated at their saturation velocities. Holes moving toward the surface of the substrate could recombine with electrons at an evaporated Schottky metal plate. Electrons moving toward the channel centre were bunched and transported by the electric field coupled to a <110> propagating surface acoustic wave (SAW) on (100) cut GaAs. Quantum efficiency, defined as the number of electrons collected at the output per incident photon on the GaAs surface, was greater than 9% at an optical wavelength of 730 nm. When compensation was made for the loss and reflection due to the chromium windows, the quantum efficiency was in excess of 24%. Charge transfer efficiency was greater than 0.992 with the ACT clocked at 360 MHz. The demonstrated optical injection technique may be of use in future ACT imaging devices.

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