A low dark current InGaAs/GaAs very-long-wavelength quantum well infrared photodetector

The theoretical study has been performed on a low dark current InGaAs/GaAs very-long-wavelength (>12 mum) quantum well infrared photodetector (VLW-QWIP), based on a double barrier resonant tunneling structure (DBRTS). The ground tunneling state of the central quantum well (QW) of the DBRTS resonates with the first excited bound state of the doped InGaAs QW by adjusting the structure parameters of the DBRTS. A study of the carrier transport performance of this device is carried out based on quantum wave transport theory. It has been shown that the dark current in this device can be significantly reduced by two orders compared to conventional InGaAs/GaAs VLW-QWIP, while the photocurrent is almost the same as that in conventional VLW-QWIP. This DBRTS integrated VLW-QWIP structure may stimulate the experimental investigation for the VLW-QWIP at high operation temperature.