High operating temperature interband cascade focal plane arrays

Abstract

In this paper, we report the initial demonstration of mid-infrared interband cascade (IC) photodetector focal plane arrays with multiple-stage/junction design. The merits of IC photodetectors include low noise and efficient photocarrier extraction, even for zero-bias operation. By adopting enhanced electron barrier design and a total absorber thickness of 0.7 μm, the 5-stage IC detectors show very low dark current (1.10 × 10−7 A/cm2 at −5 mV and 150 K). Even with un-optimized fabrication and standard commercial (mis-matched) read-out circuit technology, infrared images are obtained by the 320 × 256 IC focal plane array up to 180 K with f/2.3 optics. The minimum noise equivalent temperature difference of 28 mK is obtained at 120 K. These initial results indicate great potential of IC photodetectors, particularly for high operating temperature applications.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 04, 2014
Source ID
10.1063/1.4892634

Entities

People

  • H. S. Kim
  • J. A. Montoya
  • S. E. Godoy
  • S. Krishna
  • T. Schuler-sandy
  • Z.-b. Tian

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory
  • University of New Mexico

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics