Published By National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Issued over 9 years ago
Summary
Description
This Phase I SBIR program is directed toward the development of a novel low-voltage (~10V) AlGaN-based multi-quantum well (MQW) avalanche photodiode (APD) on low-cost substrates. The high-gain, high-speed and low-noise operation of the proposed device allow the replacement of bulkier and more fragile photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) for many UV photon-counting and imaging applications. In particular, reduction in size and weight in addition to improvements in reliability and ruggedness compared to PMTs, make this technology very suitable for some of the NASA's planned space missions as well as other civilian and defense applications that require high-sensitivity, solar-blind UV detection.