A Robust Drift-diffusion Equations Solver Enabling Accurate Simulation of Photodetectors

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the drift-diffusion equations (DDEs) solvers have been widely used to study photodetectors and emitters deploying thin semiconductor layers [1–3]. Complex mechanisms such as thermionic emission at the heterojunction boundaries, incomplete ionization, impact ionization, and the Franz-Keldysh effect can play an important role in the nonlinear behavior of these photonic components [1–3]. In this work, we will describe how we incorporate these complex effects in the DDEs to create a highly robust DDEs solver capable of realistically simulating photodetectors with any number of layers and calculating their impulse response.