High Conversion Efficiency InP/InGaAs Strained Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector Focal Plane Array With 9.7 $\mu$m Cut-Off for High-Speed Thermal Imaging

Abstract

InP/InGaAs material system is an alternative to AlGaAs/GaAs for long wavelength quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs). We demonstrate a large format (640 × 512) QWIP focal plane array (FPA) constructed with the strained InP/InGaAs material system. The strain introduced to the structure through utilization of In0.48Ga0.52As (instead of In0.53Ga0.47As ) as the quantum well material shifts the cut-off wavelength from ˜8.5 to 9.7 μm. The FPA fabricated with the 40-well epilayer structure yields a peak quantum efficiency as high as 12% with a broad spectral response (Δλ/p=17%). The peak responsivity of the FPA pixels is 1.4 A/W corresponding to 20% conversion efficiency in the bias region where the detectivity is reasonably high (2.6 × 1010 cm Hz1/2/W, f/1.5, 65 K). The FPA providing a background limited performance temperature higher than 65 K (f/1.5) satisfies the requirements of most low integration time/low background applications where AlGaAs/GaAs QWIPs suffer from read-out circuit noise limited sensitivity due to lower conversion efficiencies. Noise equivalent temperature differences of the FPA are as low as 19 and 40 mK with integration times as short as 1.8 ms and 430 μs (f/1.5, 65 K).