%0 Journal Article %T Study on the Theoretical Limitation of the Mid-Infrared PbSe N<sup>+</sup>-P Junction Detectors at High Operating Temperature %A Xinghua Shi %A Quang Phan %A Binbin Weng %A Lance L. McDowell %A Jijun Qiu %A Zhihua Cai %A Zhisheng Shi %J Detection %P 1-16 %@ 2331-2084 %D 2018 %I Scientific Research Publishing %R 10.4236/detection.2018.61001 %X This paper provides a theoretical study and calculation of the specific detectivity-D* limit of photovoltaic (PV) mid-wave infrared (MWIR) PbSe n⁺-p junction detectors operating at both room temperature and TE-cooled temperature. For a typical PbSe p-type doping concentration of 2 ¡Á 10¹⁷ cm^-3 and with high quantum efficiency, the D* limits of a photovoltaic PbSe n⁺-p junction detector are shown to be 2.8 ¡Á 10¹⁰ HZ^1/2/W and 3.7 ¡Á 1010 HZ1/2/W at 300 K and 240 K, with cut-off wavelength of 4.5 ¦Ìm and 5.0 ¦Ìm, respectively. It is almost one magnitude higher than the current practical MWIR PV detector. Above 244 K, the detector is Johnson noise limited, and below 191 K the detector reaches background limited infrared photodetector (BLIP) D*. With optimization of carrier concentration, D* and BLIP temperature could be further increased. %K PbSe %K Lifetime %K R< %K sub> %K 0< %K /sub> %K A %K Detectivity %U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=83997