Development of interband cascade infrared photodetectors

Interband cascade (IC) infrared (IR) photodetectors (ICIPs) are a new type of infrared detectors based on quantum-engineered InAs/GaSb/AlSb heterostructures. They combine the features of conventional interband photodiodes with the discrete nature of quantum-well IR photodetectors (QWIPs). The operation of ICIPs takes advantage of fast intersubband relaxation and interband tunneling for carrier transport, and relatively slow interband transitions (long lifetime) for photon generation. As such, ICIPs can be optimized for specific application requirements, such as higher temperature operation or lower noise. By adopting a finite type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice (SL) as the absorber, we have demonstrated mid-IR ICIPs with low noise and photovoltaic operation. In this paper, we report some of our recent efforts in the development of mid-IR ICIPs for high temperature operations. The ICIP devices with a cut-off wavelength of 3.8 μm exhibit a resistance-area product of 2.65×106 and 6.36×103Ωcm2 at 80 and 160 K, respectively.

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