Characterization of Short-Wavelength-Selective a-Si:H MSM Photoconductors for Large-Area Digital-Imaging Applications
Photoconductor-type photodetectors are attractive as sensors due to their compatibility with thin-film-transistor (TFT) fabrication processes. Since they exhibit photogain, photoconductor detectors have better or comparable responsivity and quantum efficiency (QE) compared to p-i-n photodiodes. In this paper, the operation of metal-semiconductor-metal photoconductor-based photodetectors using aluminum electrodes and thin hydrogenated amorphous-silicon (a-Si) films is investigated. The experimental results of photocurrent measurements, as well as the responsivity and QE for different a-Si film thicknesses, bias voltages, and electrode gaps, are presented. Integration with TFT fabrication and its application in large-area digital imaging are discussed.
3-D Dual-Gate Photosensitive Thin-Film Transistor Architectures Based on Amorphous Silicon
In contrast to the conventional planar p-i-n photodiode and a metal-semiconductor–metal photodetector, the 3-D dual-gate photosensitive thin-film transistor (TFT) architectures presented here attain excellent photoresponse characteristics. Operating the device in the subthreshold regime further boosts the photoconductive gain as a result of light-induced decrease in the threshold voltage. This paper presents design considerations along with a performance comparison between 3-D photosensitive TFTs that have <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pi $ </tex-math></inline-formula>- and FIN-shaped channels and conventional TFT with a planar channel. Our paper shows that the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pi $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-shaped structure tends to have a higher sensitivity while the FIN-shaped counterpart is more responsive with wider dynamic range. For both structures, a measured photoconductive gain of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{\textsf {4}} \sim 10^{\textsf {6}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>% is obtained with spectral responsivity ranging from near UV to near IR, and the photoresponse time in the range of tens of milliseconds. The 3-D dual-gate photosensitive TFT architecture appears to be very promising for large-area, low-level UV, visible, and IR detection applications.
The unfolded universe of elementary particles. A geometric explanation of the standard model structure
We propose a geometric explanation of the standard model of Glashow, Weinberg and Salam for the known elementary particles. Our model is a generic Quantum Field Theory in dimension four, obtained by developing along a Lorentz sub-manifold the lagrangian of Einstein and Dirac in dimension twelve. The main mechanism which gives birth to the standard model is a certain gauge fixing of triality, which permits to identify the multiplicity of fermions, as seen from the four dimensional world, with the eight unseen dimensions of the generating universe. In this way we get the known tables of particles, explaining the series of fermions and the gauge bosons. We suggest that the Higgs field dynamics could appear through a bosonization of the right handed neutrino and correspond to a displacement in the unseen dimensions. We also propose hypotheses for dark matter, and perhaps dark energy. Then we suggest predictions to go beyond the standard model.