Capacitive infrared photodetector comprising a quantum dot layer

摘要

A semiconductor device that utilizes intraband photon absorption in quantum dots to provide a capacitive photodetector. The presence of the quantum dots creates confined energy states within the photodetector device. Electrons are trapped in these confined energy states. When the photodetector is illuminated by light having an appropriate photon energy, the stored electrons are released to the conduction band, causing a change in the capacitance of the photodetector. By measuring this change in capacitance, light incident on the photodetector can be detected and quantified.