High gain GaN/AlGaN heterojunction phototransistor

US6137123A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC. · US

Inventors

• Wei Yang · Minnetonka, US
• Thomas E. Nohava · Apple Valley, US
• Scott A. McPherson · Eagan, US
• Robert C. Torreano · Coon Rapids, US
• Holly A. Marsh · St. Louis Park, US
• Subash Krishnankutty · North Haven, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 17, 1999
• Grant date: Oct 24, 2000
• Expiry date: Aug 17, 2019

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02E10/544

Abstract

A GaN/AlGaN heterojunction bipolar phototransistor having AlGaN contact, i-GaN absorbing, p-GaN base and n-GaN emitter layers formed, in that order, on a UV transparent substrate. The phototransistor has a gain greater than 10.sup.5. From 360 nm to 400 nm, eight orders of magnitude drop in responsivity was achieved. The phototransistor features a rapid electrical quenching of persistent photoconductivity, and exhibits high dark impedance and no DC drift. By changing the frequency of the quenching cycles, the detection speed of the phototransistor can be adjusted to accommodate specific applications. These results represent an internal gain UV detector with significantly improved performance over GaN based photo conductors.