Semiconductor Sensor of the Thermoelectric Single-Photon Detector for Recording Near-Infrared Radiation

The design of a four-layer sensitive element of a single-photon thermoelectric detector with an FeSb 2 semiconductor sensor is proposed. Heat-propagation processes in the sensitive element after the absorption of a photon are studied using computer simulation. Calculations are performed using the equation of heat propagation from a limited volume by the three-dimensional matrix method for differential equations. The temporal dependences of the detector signal amplitude are calculated at different thicknesses of layers of the sensitive element and the parameters, including the signal delay, time jitter, time to reach the maximum signal, decay time, and count rate, are determined. It is proved that a detector with such a sensitive element can ensure a detection efficiency above 95% for near-infrared photons. Simultaneously, a terahertz count rate is achieved.