Modeling of the spectral response of AlxGa1-xN p-n junction photodetectors

We propose to model the spectral response of p-n junction photodetectors based on gallium nitride and related AlGaN alloys. The model is based on the resolution of the differential equations that govern the excess carrier variation in each layer of the photodiode taking into account all the physical parameters, in particular the presence of deep trap levels in the forbidden gap. We notice that the theoretical results are in good agreement with the experiments. We have also analysed the effect of the recombination velocity at the illuminated surface, as well as the impact of the thickness and the doping density of the p-type layer (illuminated zone) on the spectral response magnitude.