Aug 2021:
Our recently published paper in ACS Applied Electronic Materials employs the technology computer-aided design (TCAD) Atlas, Silvaco tool to identify relevant conduction mechanisms in a-Se based detectors. The simulation results demonstrate a potential low-noise amorphous selenium solid-state avalanche detector based on high-k blocking layers that act very similar to a vacuum photomultiplier tube, where amorphous selenium will be the only material experiencing the high avalanche field. The high-k non-insulating blocking layers substantially decrease the electric field at the blocking-layer/metal-electrode interface (i.e., limiting Schottky injection from the electrodes), prevent Joule heating from crystallizing the amorphous selenium layer, hinder the irreversible breakdown of the device, and enable high avalanche gains comparable to classical photomultiplier tubes ∼ 10^6. The manuscript was nominated for the journal supplementary cover art.
NSF supports our research in Solid-State Selenium Photo-multiplier: 2021, NSF (funded), PI: “ Solid-State Selenium Photo-multiplier with a High-K Dielectric Blocking Layer for High, Noise-free Avalanche Gain.”
For more details about our fundings, please click here.