Interband-cascade infrared photodetectors with superlattice absorbers

Interband-cascade infrared photodetectors (ICIPs), composed of discrete superlattice absorbers, are demonstrated at temperatures up to 350 K with a cutoff wavelength near 5 μm at 80 K to beyond 7 μm above room temperature. The peak responsivity exceeds 200 mA/W, higher than the values reported from early interband cascade laser structures, suggesting a significantly enhanced quantum efficiency of the superlattice absorbers. A theoretical model, originally developed for quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs), is applied to ICIPs to analyze their device performance. The Johnson-limited and background-limited detectivities are extracted and indicate that background-limited performance temperatures for two ICIP structures are 126 and 105 K at 5 μm. It is expected that optimized ICIPs will provide improved performance by combining the advantages of conventional photodiodes and the discrete nature of QWIPs and IC lasers.

[1]  Rui Q. Yang.  Infrared laser based on intersubband transitions in quantum wells , 1995 .

[2]  W. A. Beck,et al.  Photoconductive gain and generation‐recombination noise in multiple‐quantum‐well infrared detectors , 1993 .

[3]  Rui Q. Yang,et al.  Room-temperature type-II interband cascade lasers near 4.1 μm , 2003 .

[4]  Hui Chun Liu,et al.  Photoconductive gain mechanism of quantum‐well intersubband infrared detectors , 1992 .

[5]  Darryl L. Smith,et al.  Proposal for strained type II superlattice infrared detectors , 1987 .

[6]  H. S. Kim,et al.  nBn structure based on InAs /GaSb type-II strained layer superlattices , 2007 .

[7]  Stephen W. Kennerly,et al.  Comparison of HgCdTe and QWIP dual-band focal plane arrays , 2001, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[8]  E. Dereniak,et al.  Infrared Detectors and Systems , 1996 .

[9]  M. Helm.  Long wavelength infrared emitters based on quantum wells and superlattices , 2000 .

[10]  M. Carras,et al.  Quantum cascade photodetector , 2004 .

[11]  Rui Q. Yang,et al.  Interband cascade detectors with room temperature photovoltaic operation , 2005 .

[12]  Harald Schneider,et al.  Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors: Physics and Applications , 2006 .

[13]  Mattias Beck,et al.  Quantum-cascade-laser structures as photodetectors , 2002 .

[14]  J. Faist,et al.  16.5μm quantum cascade detector using miniband transport , 2007 .

[15]  V. Berger,et al.  High resistance narrow band quantum cascade photodetectors , 2005 .

[16]  M. Razeghi,et al.  Uncooled operation of type-II InAs∕GaSb superlattice photodiodes in the midwavelength infrared range , 2005 .

[17]  Rui Q. Yang,et al.  Interband cascade photovoltaic devices , 2010 .

[18]  J. Faist,et al.  Short wavelength (4μm) quantum cascade detector based on strain compensated InGaAs∕InAlAs , 2008 .

[19]  Jeffrey H. Warner,et al.  W-structured type-II superlattice-based long- and very long wavelength infrared photodiodes , 2005, SPIE OPTO.