charge_collection_efficiency#

optika.sensors.charge_collection_efficiency(absorption, thickness_implant=<Quantity 2317. Angstrom>, cce_backsurface=0.21, cos_incidence=1)[source]#

Compute the average charge collection efficiency using the differential charge collection efficiency profile described in Stern et al. [1994].

Parameters:
  • absorption (Quantity | AbstractScalar) – The absorption coefficient of the light-sensitive material for the wavelength of interest.

  • thickness_implant (Quantity | AbstractScalar) – The thickness of the implant layer, the layer where recombination can occur. Default is the value given in Stern et al. [1994].

  • cce_backsurface (Quantity | AbstractScalar) – The differential charge collection efficiency on the back surface of the sensor. Default is the value given in Stern et al. [1994].

  • cos_incidence (float | AbstractScalar) – The cosine of the angle of the incident light’s propagation direction inside the substrate with the surface normal

Return type:

AbstractScalar

Examples

Plot the charge collection efficiency as a function of wavelength.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import astropy.units as u
import named_arrays as na
import optika

# Define a grid of wavelengths
wavelength = na.geomspace(10, 10000, axis="wavelength", num=1001) * u.AA

# Compute the absorption coefficient for silicon
absorption = optika.chemicals.Chemical("Si").absorption(wavelength)

# Compute the CCE vs wavelength
cce = optika.sensors.charge_collection_efficiency(
    absorption=absorption,
)

# Plot the effective and maximum quantum efficiency
fig, ax = plt.subplots(constrained_layout=True)
na.plt.plot(
    wavelength,
    cce,
    ax=ax,
);
ax.set_xscale("log");
ax.set_xlabel(f"wavelength ({wavelength.unit:latex_inline})");
ax.set_ylabel("charge collection efficiency");
../_images/optika.sensors.charge_collection_efficiency_0_0.png

Notes

The charge collection efficiency is the fraction of photoelectrons that are measured by the sensor [Janesick, 2001], and is an important component of the quantum efficiency of the sensor

In Stern et al. [1994], the authors define a differential charge collection efficiency, \(\eta(z)\), which is the probability that a photoelectron resulting from a photon absorbed at a depth \(z\) will be measured by the sensor. In principle, \(\eta(z)\) depends on the exact implant profile on the backsurface of the sensor, however Stern et al. [1994] and Boerner et al. [2012] have shown that a piecewise-linear approximation of \(\eta(z)\),

(1)#\[\begin{split}\eta(z) = \begin{cases} \eta_0 + (1 - \eta_0) z / W, & 0 < z < W \\ 1, & W < z < D, \end{cases}\end{split}\]

is sufficient, given the uncertainties in the optical constants involved.

The total charge collection efficiency is then the average value of \(\eta(z)\) weighted by the probability of absorbing a photon at a depth \(z\),

(2)#\[\text{CCE}(\lambda) = \frac{\int_0^\infty \eta(z) e^{-\alpha z} \, dz} {\int_0^\infty e^{-\alpha z} \, dz}.\]

Plugging Equation (1) into Equation (2) and integrating yields

(3)#\[\text{CCE}(\lambda) = \eta_0 + \left( \frac{1 - \eta_0}{\alpha W} \right)(1 - e^{-\alpha W}).\]

Equation (3) is equivalent to the term in curly braces of Equation 11 in Stern et al. [1994], with the addition of an \(e^{-\alpha W}\) term which represents photons absorbed inside the epitaxial layer but outside the implant layer.

Equation (3) is only valid for normally-incident light. We can generalize it to obliquely-incident light by making the substitution

(4)#\[x \rightarrow \frac{x}{\cos \theta}\]

where \(\theta\) is the angle between the propagation direction inside the silicon substrate and the normal vector.

Substituting (4) into Equation (3) and solving yields

(5)#\[\text{CCE}(\lambda, \theta) = \eta_0 + \left( \frac{1 - \eta_0}{\alpha W \sec \theta} \right) (1 - e^{-\alpha W \sec \theta})\]