We report on the photoresponse of mid-wavelength infrared radiation (MWIR) type-II superlattices (T2SLs) InAs/InAsSb high operating temperature (HOT) photoresistor grown on GaAs substrate. The device consists of a 200 periods of active layer grown on GaSb buffer layer. The photoresistor reached a 50% cut-off wavelength of 5 µm and 6 µm at 200 K and 300 K respectively. The time constant of 30 ns is observed at 200 K under 1 V bias. This is the first observation of the photoresponse in MWIR T2SLs InAs/InAsSb above 200 K.

The utmost limit performance of interband cascade detectors optimized for the longwave range of infrared radiation is investigated in this work. Currently, materials from the III–V group are characterized by short carrier lifetimes limited by Shockley-Read-Hall generation and recombination processes. The maximum carrier lifetime values reported at 77 K for the type-II superlattices InAs/GaSb and InAs/InAsSb in a longwave range correspond to ∼200 and ∼400 ns. We estimated theoretical detectivity of interband cascade detectors assuming above carrier lifetimes and a value of ∼1–50 μs reported for a well-known HgCdTe material. It has been shown that for room temperature the limit value of detctivity is of ∼3–4×10¹⁰ cmHz^1/2/W for the optimized detector operating at the wavelength range ∼10 μm could be reached.

The paper presents the method and results of low-frequency noise measurements of modern mid-wavelength infrared photodetectors. A type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice based detector with nBn barrier architecture is compared with a high operating temperature (HOT) heterojunction HgCdTe detector. All experiments were made in the range 1 Hz - 10 kHz at various temperatures by using a transimpedance detection system, which is examined in detail. The power spectral density of the nBn’s dark current noise includes Lorentzians with different time constants while the HgCdTe photodiode has more uniform 1/f - shaped spectra. For small bias, the low-frequency noise power spectra of both devices were found to scale linearly with bias voltage squared and were connected with the fluctuations of the leakage resistance. Leakage resistance noise defines the lower noise limit of a photodetector. Other dark current components give raise to the increase of low-frequency noise above this limit. For the same voltage biasing devices, the absolute noise power densities at 1 Hz in nBn are 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than in a MCT HgCdTe detector. In spite of this, low-frequency performance of the HgCdTe detector at ~ 230K is still better than that of InAs/GaSb superlattice nBn detector.

The paper presents noise measurements in low-resistance photodetectors using a cross-correlation-based transimpedance amplifier. Such measurements usually apply a transimpedance amplifier design to provide a current fluctuation amplification. In the case of low-resistance sources, the measurement system causes additional relevant system noise which can be higher than noise generated in a tested detector. It mainly comes from the equivalent input voltage noise of the transimpedance amplifier. In this work, the unique circuit and a three-step procedure were used to reduce the floor noise, covering the measured infrared detector noise, mainly when operating with no-bias or low-bias voltage. The modified circuit and procedure to measure the noise of unbiased and biased detectors characterized by resistances much lower than 100 Ω were presented. Under low biases, the reference low-resistance resistors tested the measurement system operation and techniques. After the system verification, noise characteristics in low-resistance InAs and InAsSb infrared detectors were also measured.

The paper reports on the barrier mid-wave infrared InAs/InAsSb (x_Sb = 0.4) type-II superlattice detector operating below thermoelectrical cooling. AlAsSb with Sb composition, x_Sb = 0.97; barrier doping, N_D < 2×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ leading to valence band offset below 100 meV in relation to the active layer doping, N_D = 5×10¹⁵ cm⁻³ was proved to be proper material not introducing extra barrier in valence band in the analyzed temperature range in XBn architectures. The detectivity of the simulated structure was assessed at the level of ∼ 10¹¹ Jones at T ∼ 100 K assuming absorber thickness, d = 3 μm. The detector’s architecture for high frequency response operation, τ_s = 420 ps (T ∼ 77 K) was presented with a reduced active layer of d = 1 μm.

The sensitivity of III-V-based infrared detectors is critically dependent upon the carrier concentration and mobility of the absorber layer, and thus, accurate knowledge of each is required to design structures for maximum detector performance. Here, measurements of the bulk in-plane resistivity, in-plane mobility, and carrier concentration as a function of temperature are reported for non-intentionally doped and Si-doped mid-wave infrared InAs0.91Sb0.09 alloy and InAs/InAs0.65Sb0.35 type-II superlattice materials grown on GaSb substrates. Standard temperature- and magnetic-field-dependent resistivity and the Hall measurements on mesa samples in the van der Pauw configuration are performed, and multi-carrier fitting and modelling are used to isolate transport of each carrier species. The results show that up to 5 carrier species of the surface, interface and bulk variety contribute to conduction, with bulk electron and hole mobility up to 2·105 cm2/V s and 8·103 cm2/V s, respectively and background dopant concentration levels were between 1014 and 1015 cm−3. The in-plane mobility temperatures dependence is determined and trends of each carrier species with temperature and dose are analysed.

The paper presents the effect of ICP-RIE etching time using one-component plasma on various parameters of an InAs/GaSb type II superlattice matrix. In the studies, two samples used at different BCl3 gas flow rates were compared and it was found that using a lower flow rate of 7 sccm results in obtaining a smoother sidewall morphology. Next, five periodic mesa-shaped structures were etched under identical conditions, but using a different time. The results indicated that the ICP-RIE method using a BCl3 flow rate of 7 sccm, ICP:RIE power ratio of 300W:270W allowed the ICP:RIE formation of a periodic mesa-shaped structure with smooth and perpendicular sidewalls.

In this paper, we present the electrical and electro-optical characterizations of an InAs/GaSb type-2 superlattice barrier photodetector operating in the full longwave infrared spectral domain. The fabricated detectors exhibited a 50% cut-off wavelength around 14 μm at 80 K and a quantum efficiency slightly above 20%. The dark current density was of 4.6 × 10 2 A/cm2 at 80 K and a minority carrier lateral diffusion was evaluated through dark current measurements on different detector sizes. In addition, detector spectral response, its dark current-voltage characteristics and capacitance-voltage curve accompanied by electric field simulations were analyzed in order to determine the operating bias and the dark current regimes at different biases. Finally, dark current simulations were also performed to estimate a minority carrier lifetime by comparing experimental curves with simulated ones.

This work investigates the potential of InAs/GaSb superlattice detectors for the short-wavelength infrared spectral band. A barrier detector structure was grown by molecular beam epitaxy and devices were fabricated using standard photolithography techniques. Optical and electrical characterisations were carried out and the current limitations were identified. The authors found that the short diffusion length of ~1.8 µm is currently limiting the quantum efficiency (double-pass, no anti-reflection coating) to 43% at 2.8 µm and 200 K. The dark current density is limited by the surface leakage current which shows generation-recombination and diffusion characters below and above 195 K, respectively. By fitting the size dependence of the dark current, the bulk values have been estimated to be 6.57·10−6 A/cm2 at 200 K and 2.31·10−6 A/cm2 at 250 K, which is only a factor of 4 and 2, respectively, above the Rule07.

Ga-free InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattice structures grown on GaSb substrates have demonstrated high performance for mid-wave infrared applications. However, realisation of long wavelength infrared photodetectors based on this material system still presents challenges, especially in terms of reduced quantum efficiency. This reduction is due, in part, to the increased type-II superlattice period required to attain longer wavelengths, as thicker periods decrease the wave-function overlap for the spatially separated quantum wells. One way to improve long wavelength infrared performance is to modify the type-II superlattice designs with a shorter superlattice period for a given wavelength, thereby increasing the wave-function overlap and the resulting optical absorption. Long wavelength infrared epitaxial structures with reduced periods have been realised by shifting the lattice constant of the type-II superlattice from GaSb to AlSb. Alternatively, epitaxial growth on substrates with orientations different than the traditional (100) surface presents another way for superlattice period reduction. In this work, the authors evaluate the performance of long wavelength infrared type-II superlattice detectors grown by molecular beam epitaxy using two different approaches to reduce the superlattice period: first, a metamorphic buffer to target the AlSb lattice parameter, and second, structures lattices matched to GaSb using substrates with different orientations. The use of the metamorphic buffer enabled a ~30% reduction in the superlattice period compared to reference baseline structures, maintaining a high quantum efficiency, but with the elevated dark current related to defects generated in the metamorphic buffer. Red-shift in a cut-off wavelength obtained from growths on high-index substrates offers a potential path to improve the infrared photodetector characteristics. Focal plane arrays were fabricated on (100), (311)A- and (211)B-oriented structures to compare the performance of each approach.

Mid-wavelength infrared detectors and focal plane array based on n-type InAs/InAsSb type-II strained layer superlattice absorbers have achieved excellent performance. In the long and very long wavelength infrared, however, n-type InAs/InAsSb type-II strained layer superlattice detectors are limited by their relatively small absorption coefficients and short growth-direction hole diffusion lengths, and consequently have only been able to achieve modest level of quantum efficiency. The authors present an overview of their progress in exploring complementary barrier infrared detectors that contain p-type InAs/InAsSb type-II strained layer superlattice absorbers for quantum efficiency enhancement. The authors describe some representative results, and also provide additional references for more in-depth discussions. Results on InAs/InAsSb type-II strained layer superlattice focal plane arrays for potential NASA applications are also briefly discussed.

Dual-band infrared detector, which acquires more image information than single-band detectors, has excellent detection, recognition, and identification capabilities. The dual-band detector can have two bumps to connect with each absorber layer, but it is difficult to implement small pitch focal plane arrays and its fabrication process is complicated. Therefore, the most effective way for a dual-band detector is to acquire each band by bias-selectable with one bump. To aim this, a dual-band MWIR/LWIR detector based on an InAs/GaSb type-II superlattice nBn structure was designed and its performance was evaluated in this work. Since two absorber layers were separated by the barrier layer, each band can be detected by bias-selectable with one bump. The fabricated dual-band device exhibited the dark current and spectral response characteristics of MWIR and LWIR bands under negative and positive bias, respectively. Spectral crosstalk that is a major issue in dual-band detectors was also improved. Finally, a 20 μm pitch 640 × 512 dual-band detector was fabricated, and both MWIR and LWIR images exhibited an average noise equivalent temperature difference of 30 mK or less at 80 K.

This study is based on the investigation of AlSb layer thickness effect on heavy−hole light−hole (HH−LH) splitting and band gap energies in a recently developed N−structure based on InAs/AlSb/GaSb type II superlattice (T2SL) p−i−n photodetector.eFirst principle calculations were carried out tailoring the band gap and HH−LH splitting energies for two possible interface transition alloys of InSb and AlAs between InAs and AlSb interfaces in the superlattice. Results show that AlSb and InAs−GaSb layer thicknesses enable to control HH−LH splitting energies to desired values for Auger recombination process where AlSb/GaSb total layer thickness is equal to InAs layers for the structures with InSb and AlAs interfaces

In this paper, the authors report strain-balanced M-structures InAs/GaSb/AlSb/GaSb superlattice growth on GaSb substrates using two kinds of interfaces (IFs): GaAs-like IFs and InSb-like IFs. The in-plane compressive strain of 60-period and 100-period InAs��/GaSb/AlSb��/GaSb with different InAs (��) and AlSb (��) monolayers are investigated. The M-structures InAs/GaSb/AlSb/GaSb represent type II superlattices (T2SL) and at present are under intensive investigation. Many authors show theoretical and experimental results that such structures can be used as a barrier material for a T2SL InAs/GaSb absorber tuned for long-wave infrared detectors (8 μm–14 μm). Beside that, M-structure can also be used as an active material for short-wave infrared detectors to replace InAs/GaSb which, for this region of infrared, are a big challenge from the point of view of balancing compression stress. The study of InAs/GaSb/AlSb/GaSb superlattice with the minimal strain for GaSb substrate can be obtained by a special procedure of molecular beam epitaxy growth through special shutters sequence to form both IFs. The authors were able to achieve smaller minimal mismatches of the lattice constants compared to literature. The high-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements prove that two types of IFs are proper for balancing the strain in such structures. Additionally, the results of Raman spectroscopy, surface analyses of atomic force microscopy, and differential interference contrast microscopy are also presented. The numerical calculations presented in this paper prove that the presence of IFs significantly changes the energy gap in the case of the investigated M-structures. The theoretical results obtained for one of the investigated structures, for a specially designed structure reveal an extra energy level inside the energy gap. Moreover, photoluminescence results obtained for this structure prove the good quality of the synthesized M-structures, as well as are in a good agreement with theoretical calculations.