IN0.53GA0.47AS METAL-SEMICONDUCTOR-METAL PHOTODIODES WITH TRANSPARENT CADMIUM TIN OXIDE SCHOTTKY CONTACTS

A metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) In0.53Ga0.47As photodiode using a transparent cadmium tin oxide (CTO) layer for the interdigitated electrodes was investigated. The transparent contact prevents shadowing of the active layer by the electrodes, thus allowing greater collection of incident light. The barrier height (phiBn) of CTO on i-In0.52Al0.48As was determined to be 0.47 eV, while the Ti/Au barrier height was 0.595 eV. The reduced barrier height for CTO is caused by tunneling through the sputter-damaged cap layer. Responsivity for 1.3 mum incident light was 0.49 and 0.28 A/W, respectively, for the CTO and Ti/Au MSM photodiodes. No antireflection (AR) coating was utilized over the bare semiconductor surface. The CTO MSM photodiode shows a factor of almost two improvement in responsivity over conventional Ti/Au MSM photodiodes. (C) 1994 American Institute of Physics.