Barrier Engineered Infrared Photodetectors Based on Type-II InAs/GaSb Strained Layer Superlattices

Author

Gautam, Nishit ; Myers, S. ; Barve, A.V. ; Klein, Bernhard ; Smith, E.P. ; Rhiger, D.R. ; Ha Sul Kim ; Zhao-Bing Tian ; Krishna, Sanjay

Author_Institution

Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Volume

49

Issue

2

fYear

2013

fDate

Feb. 2013

Firstpage

211

Lastpage

217

Abstract

We present the design, growth, fabrication, and characterization of unipolar barrier photodiodes, pBiBn, based on type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice for midwave and longwave infrared detection. Design optimization of barriers using bandgap and band-offset tailorability of InAs/GaSb/AlSb superlattice system, their advantages and evolution of heterostructure designs are discussed for both the regimes. Dark current densities of 1.6 × 10^-7 and 1.42 × 10^-5 A/cm² are measured at 77 K for midwave and longwave detectors with cutoff wavelengths of 5 and 10 μm, respectively. Responsivities of 1.3 (QE = 38%) and 1.66 A/W (QE = 23.5%) are measured at 4.2 and 8.7 μm for the midwave and longwave, respectively, at 77 K. Shot noise limited peak detectivity of 8.9 × 10¹² and 7.7×10¹¹ cm-Hz^1/2-W^-1 are observed at -10 and -40 mV for midwave infrared and longwave infrared detectors, respectively, at 77 K.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; current density; energy gap; gallium compounds; indium compounds; infrared detectors; optical design techniques; optical fabrication; optical materials; photodetectors; photodiodes; semiconductor superlattices; shot noise; InAs-GaSb-AlSb; band-offset tailorability; bandgap tailorability; barrier-engineered infrared photodetectors; dark current density; design optimization; efficiency 23.5 percent; efficiency 38 percent; heterostructure designs; longwave infrared detection; midwave infrared detection; optical fabrication; responsivity; shot noise; shot noise limited peak detectivity; temperature 77 K; type-II strained layer superlattices; unipolar barrier photodiodes; voltage -10 mV; voltage -40 mV; wavelength 10 mum; wavelength 4.2 mum; wavelength 5 mum; wavelength 8.7 mum; Current measurement; Dark current; Detectors; Electric fields; Photonic band gap; Superlattices; Temperature measurement; Infrared; photodetectors; strained layer superlattices; unipolar barriers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2012.2236643

Filename

6395798