The paper reports on a long-wave infrared (cut-off wavelength ~ 9 μm) HgCdTe detector operating under nbiased condition and room temperature (300 K) for both short response time and high detectivity operation. The ptimal structure in terms of the response time and detectivity versus device architecture was shown. The response time of the long-wave (active layer Cd composition, xCd = 0.19) HgCdTe detector for 300 K was calculated at a level of τs ~ 1 ns for zero bias condition, while the detectivity − at a level of D* ~ 109 cmHz1/2/W assuming immersion. It was presented that parameters of the active layer and P+ barrier layer play a critical role in order to reach τs ≤ 1 ns. An extra series resistance related to the processing (RS+ in a range 5−10 Ω) increased the response time more than two times (τs ~ 2.3 ns).

This paper presents examples of infrared detectors with mercury cadmium telluride elaborated at the Institute of Applied Physics, Military University of Technology and VIGO Photonics S.A. Fully doped HgCdTe epilayers were grown with the metal organic chemical vapour deposition technique which provides a wide range of material composition covering the entire infrared range from 1.5 µm to 14 µm. Fundamental issues concerning the design of individual areas of the heterostructure including: the absorber, contacts, and transient layers with respect to their thickness, doping and composition were discussed. An example of determining the gain is also given pointing to the potential application of the obtained devices in avalanche photodiode detectors that can amplify weak optical signals. Selected examples of the analysis of current-voltage and spectral characteristics are shown. Multiple detectors based on a connection in series of small individual structures are also presented as a solution to overcome inherent problems of low resistance of LWIR photodiodes. The HgCdTe detectors were compared with detectors from III-V materials. The detectors based on InAs/InAsSb superlattice materials achieve very comparable parameters and, in some respects, they are even superior to those with mercury cadmium telluride.