Comparison Studies of Infrared Phototransistors with a Quantum-Well and a Quantum-Wire Base

Abstract
Infrared phototransistors based respectively on a quantum-well and a quantum-wire structures, utilizing intersubband electron transitions, are considered using developed analytical model. The dark currents and responsivities of the phototransistors in question are compared. It is shown that the quantum-wire infrared phototransistor can surpass the infrared phototransistor with a quantum well in performance especially at low temperatures. This is due to the one-dimensional nature of the electrons in the quantum-wires providing higher energy of thermal excitation, leading to low dark current and sensitivity to normal incident radiation.